! 
I 



JERUSALEM 



A SKETCH OF THE CITY AND TEMPLE FROM THE 
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE SIEGE BY TITUS 



BY 

s/ 

THOMAS LEWIN, ESQ. 

OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, M.A. 

AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL " " CESAR'S INVASION OF BRITAIN" 
"ESSAY ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT" 




LONDON 

LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS 

1861 



TO 



THE RIGHT HON. LORD ST. LEONARDS. 



My Lord, 

I had the honor, many years since, of dedicating 
to your Lordship a Treatise, now not unknown in the legal profession ; 
and as I attribute its success in some measure to the impulse originally 
given to it by your Lordship's patronage, I indulge the hope that 
another work of a totally different character, the fruit of my leisure 
hours, may also recommend itself to favor by an introduction to the 
public under the same happy auspices. 

To your Lordship, therefore, the following pages are, by permission, 
inscribed ; and should even the stamp of your Lordship's name fail to 
give currency to my labors, I shall at least derive this satisfaction, — 
that they afforded me an opportunity of testifying 1113- respect for your 
Lordship, and of expressing my grateful sense of the many favors 
which I have received at your Lordship's hands. 

I remain 

Your Lordship's humble and devoted servant, 

THE AUTHOR. 



I 



PREFACE 



In the following pages are discussed the genuineness of 
the Holy Sepulchre, the sites of the Jewish Temple 
and Antonia, and the courses of the ancient walls, with 
other questions of interest connected with the topography 
of Jerusalem. It is well known that the most dis- 
cordant views have been entertained by the different 
writers upon this subject, as by Williams, Fergusson, 
and Thrupp in England ; by Eobinson and Barclay in 
America; and by Schultz, KrafFt, and Tobler in Ger- 
many. The Author has little hope that his own lucu- 
brations will solve the enigma ; but, as he has carefully 
and impartially examined the various theories, a brief 
exposition of the grounds on which his conclusions 
have been arrived at may, though failing to produce 
conviction, yet serve as a guide and smooth the way 
to future investigation. 

The Author, not having personally visited Jerusalem, 
is indebted for his materials to the works of others. 
Eobinson in particular has, from his habit of accurate 
observation, collected in his " Biblical Eesearches" a 
perfect storehouse of facts for the benefit of all. His 
reasoning, too, is that of a logical mind, and always 
conducted in a temperate and philosophical spirit. The 
Author regrets that he differs so entirely from the 



VUl 



PREFACE. 



conclusions of this eminent topographer. Indeed, of 
the four propositions which Eobinson has put forward 
as generally admitted, — 1. that Sion was the south- 
western hill ; 2. that the site of the Jewish Temple 
was that now occupied by the Mosque of Omar ; 
3. that the ancient tower, just south of the Jaffa gate, 
is Hippicus ; 4. that the ancient remains at the 
Damascus gate belong to the second wall ; — to none 
can the Author give an unqualified assent. Sion, in 
the Author's opinion, was not the south-western hill ; 
the site of the Temple was not that of the Mosque ; 
the tower, just south of the Jaffa gate, was not Hip- 
picus ; and the Damascus gate was not in the second 
wall. 

Fergusson labours under the same disadvantage with 
the Author, in not having himself examined the ground ; 
but he has largely contributed to the elucidation of 
the subject. The architectural knowledge which he has 
brought to bear upon the description of the Temple is 
of the last importance. Many of his views, which are 
original, have been adopted by the Author: as that 
the tower by the Jaffa gate, if one of the towers of 
Herod, is Phasaelus ; that the name of Sion belongs, 
not to the western, but to the eastern, hill ; and that 
the Temple must have stood at the south-western 
corner of the Haram. In other points Fergusson 
has " gloriously offended," — as in attempting to identify 
the Mosque of Omar with the Church of Constantine ; 
in the position he has assigned to Hippicus; and in 
the courses of the ancient walls. However, when he 
errs in judgment he always interests from the ability 
and ingenuity of the argument. 



PREFACE. 



ix 



The other writers upon the topography of Jeru- 
salem are too numerous to be specially mentioned; 
but the Author is, more or less, under obligations to 
them all. 

The Author must not omit, in conclusion, to return 
his best thanks to his relative, Mrs. Spencer Lewin, for 
her kind assistance in the construction of the accom- 
panying Map. 



Lincoln's Inn : July 27, 1861. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Page 

Jerusalem from the earliest Notices to the Fall of the 



Monarchy . . . . . 1 

The Temple of Solomon . . . . .14 

Millo . . . . . . .16 

Palace of Solomon . . . . .22 

Walls of Solomon . . . . .32 

Reign of Hezekiah . . . . .39 

„ Manasseh . . . , .51 

Zedekiah . . . . .55 



CHAPTER II. 

Walls of Nehemiah . . . . . .57 

CHAPTER III. 

Time of the Maccabees . . . . .82 

CHAPTER IV. 



Time of the Herods . . . . .99 

The City generally . . . . .99 

The Walls . . . . . .no 

First Wall . . . . . .113 

Second Wall . . . . . .118 

(Place of Crucifixion . . . . .127 

The Holy Sepulchre) . . . . .133 

Third Wall . . . . . .167 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

The Temple of Herod . . . . .195 

Castle of Antonia . . • • .198 

The Temple Platform . . . . .206 

The Siege by Titus . . . • .210 

CHAPTER V. 

Present State of the Temple Mount . . .220 

Site of the Temple . . . . .220 

Catherwood's Theory . . . . • 220 

Robinson's Theory . . • • 221 

Williams's Theory . . • • .226 

The Author's own View . . . .234 



APPENDIX. 
I. 

Hypothetical Course of the Second and Third Walls . 253 

II. 

Account of Jerusalem by the Bordeaux Pilgrim, a.d. 333 266 



Index 



273 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1 Plan of Church of the Holy Sepulchre . facing page 140 

2. Ordinary Plan of Jewish Tombs . . . page 157 

3. View of Entrance to the Tombs of the Kings facing page 158 

4. Plan and Section of Machinery for closing and opening the 

Entrance to Tombs of the Kings . facing page 158 

5. Map of Ancient Jerusalem . . .at the end 
G. Plan of the Castle of David . at the foot of the foregoing Map 



ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. 



Page 

86. Bethzur has been identified by Robinson with Beit Sur. See Biblic. 

Res. vol. iii. p. 276. 
89, line 8, for "Acra" read "Acre." 

94, line 7 from bottom of text, for "Alexander" read "Alexandra." 
106, line 5 from bottom, for "lain" read "lien." 

119. As to the course of the Second Wall, it may not be uninteresting to 
extract a passage from a book recently published, "Egyptian Sepulchres 
and Syrian Shrines," by Emily A. Beaufort, After stating that the 
Russians had lately become owners of part of the premises formerly 
occupied by the Hospitallers of St. John, at the south of the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre, Miss Beaufort proceeds, at p. 265 : " The Russians 
were excavating part of their newly acquired territory, or rather digging 
through the accumulated rubbish to see at what depth the real soil lay, 
when at about thirty feet deep the spade struck a stone, and a few 
turns more laid bare some depth of wall built in precisely the same 
style as the Wailing-place of the Jews and other Herodian masonry. 
This piece of wall is in the form of a right angle ; only a very few stones 
were uncovered, but these appeared to be about six or seven feet long, 
and three or four feet high, all bevelled, but it was not easy to get at 
them for examination. Their grand interest is that they lie exactly in 
the line supposed to be that of the second wall. These stones lie further 
north, but parallel to the Suk el Kabeer (the bazaar) of the present 
city, about half a dozen feet to the west of it, in the middle of which, 
some time ago, Signor Pierotti came to stones of the same style of work 
in an excavation he had occasion to make for the Pasha." 
160, line 3, for "for" read "and." 

163, note 2, for "Holy City, ii. 160" read "Holy City, 186, 187." 
213, note 2, for "Holy City, ii. 497 " read "Holy City, 487." 
227, line 3, for "50" read "450." 
245, line 7, dele "on." 



EXPLANATION OF SOME OF THE REFERENCES. 



Bell. 
Ant. 

Traill's Josephus 
Rob. 

Williams 
Fergusson 

Tlirupp 
Barclay 
Tobl. Top. 

Tobl. Denk. 

Tobl. Dritte Wand. 
Krafft 

Schultz 

Bartlett's Jems. 
Bartlett's Jems. Rev. 
Vogue 
Wilson 

Stewart 



= The Wars of Josephus. 

= The Antiquities of Josephus. 

~ Edited by I. Taylor. London 1851. 

= Robinson's Biblical Researches. Second 
edition. 1856. 

= Holy City. Second edition. 1849. 

= Essay on the Ancient Topography of Jeru- 
salem. Weale, 1847. 

== Antient Jerusalem. Macmillan, 1855. 

= City of the Great King. 1856. 

= Tobler's Topographie von Jerusalem. Berlin, 
1853. 

= Tobler's Denkblatter aus Jerusalem. Constanz, 
1856. 

= Tobler's Dritte Wanderung. Gotha, 1859. 
=± Topographie Jerusalem's, von W. KrafFt. 

Bonn, 1846. 
=== Jerusalem. 1843. 

=- Walks about Jerusalem. Second Edition. 

— Jerusalem Revisited. A. Hall, 1855. 

— Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte. Paris, 1860. 

— Lands of the Bible. 1843. 

— Tent and Khan. 



A 

SKETCH OF JERUSALEM. 



CHAPTEE I. 

JERUSALEM, FROM THE EARLIEST NOTICES TO THE FALL OF 

THE MONARCHY. 

The first site of Jerusalem was the Hill now erroneously 
called Sion, and which we shah designate in these pages 
as Pseudo-Sion, the plateau of rock at the south-west, 
surrounded on all sides by ravines, viz. by the Valley of 
Hinnom on the west and south, and by the Tyropceon, 
or Cheesemakers' Valley, on the north and east. 1 
Parallel to this lay the real Sion, the less elevated 
eastern hill, shut in on the west by the Tyropceon 
Valley, which divided it from Pseudo-Sion, and on the 
east by the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and ending southward 
in a wedge-like point opposite to the south-east corner of 
Pseudo-Sion. The town on the westernmost of these two 
ridges was known first as Jebus, and afterwards as the 
High Town, or Upper Market ; and the accretion to it on 
the eastern hill was anciently called Salem, and subse- 
quently the Low Town and Acra. In the days of lawless 
violence, the first object was safety ; and, as the eastern 

1 The Tyropceon on the north ran in the course of David Street 
and Temple Street, and is now distinguishable only by the rise of 
ground on the south of the street. Of this more hereafter. 



2 



EARLY JERUSALEM. 



hill was by nature exposed on the north, it was there 
protected artificially by a citadel and fosse. 

The High Town and Low Town were originally two 
distinct cities, occupied by the Amorites and Hittites, 
whence the taunt of the prophet to Jerusalem: 
" Tn y birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; 
thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a 
Hittite." 1 Hence, also, the dualistic form of the name 
Jerusalem in Hebrew, signifying " Twin- Jerusalem." 2 
Indeed the opinion has been broached that Jerusalem 
is the compound of the two names, Jebus and Salem, 
softened euphonice gratia into Jerusalem. It is re- 
markable that to the very last the quarter lying between 
the High Town and Low Town, though in the very 
heart of the city when the different parts were united 
into one compact body, was called the Suburb. 3 

The first notice of Jerusalem is in the time of Abra- 
ham. The king of Sliinar and his confederates captured 
Sodom and Gomorrah, and carried away Lot, Abraham's 
brother's son; when Abraham, collecting his train- 
bands, followed after the enemy and rescued Lot ; and 
on his return " at the valley of Shaveh, which is the 
king's vale, Melchizedek, king of Salem — the priest of 
the Most High God— blessed Abram." 4 The king's 
vale was the Valley of Jehoshaphat 5 • and Salem was 
identical with the eastern hill, the real Zion, as we 
learn from the Psalms, " In Salem is his tabernacle, and 
his dwelling-place in Zion ; " 6 where Salem and Zion 
are evidently used as synonymous. 

Whether Moriah, on which Abram offered his sacri- 
fice 7 , was the very mount on which the Temple was 

1 Ezek. xvi. 2, 45. 2 atyw 

3 Jos - Ant - xv. 11, 5. 4 Ge ^ xiv< 17 

5 2 Sam. xviii. 18. Jos. Ant. vii. 10, 3. 

6 Ps - lxxvi - 2 » 7 Gen. xxii. 2, 



EARLY JERUSALEM. 



3 



afterwards built, must be left to conjecture. But when 
the Second Book of Chronicles was written, the Jews 
had at least a tradition to that effect, for we read that 
" Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at 
Jerusalem in Mount Moriah." 1 

On the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, we find 
distinct mention made of Jerusalem by that very name ; 
for after Joshua's death, " the children of Juclah fought 
against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the 
edge of the sword, and set the city on fire." 2 But 
Josephus is .probably right in understanding this to 
apply to the Low Town only 3 , i. e. the eastern hill, or 
Sion, as opposed to the western hill, the High Town, 
or Pseudo-Sion. The men of Juclah had only a tem- 
porary occupation even of the Low Town, for it was 
not until the time of David that Jerusalem was brought 
permanently under the dominion of the Israelites. 

The adventurous son of Jesse made his first as- 
sault upon Sion, or the eastern hill, and succeeded in 
capturing the castle afterwards occupied by the famous 
Acra of the Macedonians, at the north-west corner of 
the present Haram esh Sherif, or platform of the Mosque 
of Omar. " David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, 
which is Jebus. . . . And David took the castle of 
Zion ; which is the city of David. . . . And David 
dwelt in the castle ; therefore they called it the city of 
David." 4 

The High Town on the west, protected on all sides 
by ravines, still held out, and the Jebusites, in mockery, 
set the blind and the lame upon the wall, as if the blind 
and the lame could defend a fortification of such natural 
strength. But David, in the chivalrous spirit of the age, 

1 2 Chron. iii. 1. 2 j uc i ges j. 9. 

3 T))y Kara).— Ant. v. 2, 2. 4 1 Cliron. xi. 4. 2 Sain. v. 6. 

b 2 



4 



EEIGN OF DAVID. 



proclaimed, " Whosoever gettetli up to the gutter, and 
smiteth the Jebusites," shall be chief captain of the 
army. And Joab went up first, and was chief. 1 The 
English version has imported into the passage the dero- 
gatory term of "gutter ;" but Josephus, who at all events 
knew Hebrew, interprets the word to mean the ravine 
by which the High Town was begirt 2 , and so, unques- 
tionably, the verse should be rendered. 

Both High Town and Low Town having thus fallen 
before the arms of David, he now resolved to make 
Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom, and applied him- 
self to its restoration and enlargement. " And David 
built round about from Millo and inward." 3 " He 
built the city round about, even from Millo round 
about." 4 " And Joab repaired the rest of the city ;" i. e. 
the High Town, which had been captured by him. 5 
Millo, however, is here spoken of by anticipation ; as 
Millo, the great earthwork round the Temple, was 
first built by Solomon. The inference from the passage 
is, that David carried a wall from the north-west corner 
of Millo in a curvilinear course westward, and then 
southward to Pseudo-Sion, so as to connect the High 
and Low Town on the north while he also built 
"inward," i. e. across the Tyropoeon Valley, so as to 
connect the High Town and Low Town on the south. 
Josephus paraphrases the Scripture account by saying 
that David " encompassed the Low Town, and joined 
the High Town to it, and so made both one city." 6 

We read that David " dwelt " in Sion, and that he 

1 1 Cliron. xi. 6. 2 Sam. v. 8. 

2 T(7> $ia Ttoi' vwoKeifjLei'wv tyapayywv ett\ Ttjv "Axpav avapavTi. — ■ 
Ant. vii. 3, 1. 

3 2 Sam. v. 9. 4 1 Cliron. xi. 8. 5 1 Cliron. xi. 8. 
6 AavidtjQ de ri]v re kcitio ttoXiv TrepiXafiioi' kcu ty\v aicpav <jvva\pag 

avrrjj iitoirioEV tv awfia, — Ant. vii. 8, 2. 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



5 



built there a house of cedar \ and brought thither the 
ark of God. " And David made him houses in the city 
of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and 
pitched for it a tent :" 2 and the tent was within the 
precincts of the palace, for said Solomon, " My wife 
shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, 
because the places are holy whereunto the ark of the 
Lord hath come." 3 

In fixing the royal residence, and planting the pavi- 
lion for the ark in the city of David, i. e. on the eastern 
hill, or Sion, we should imagine that David was influ- 
enced by the prestige attached to the place from remote 
antiquity. Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High 
God, had been king of Salem, the city on Sion ; and 
again Araunah, who is designated by the title of king 4 , 
and was, therefore, one of the royal stock of the J ebu- 
sites, is said to have had his threshing-floor, and, there- 
fore, it is likely, his palace also, on the same hill. 

What was the exact site of the house of David we 
cannot determine, but it was below the area of the 
Temple, for Solomon is described as " bringing up the 
ark of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Sion ;" 5 
and the only part of Jerusalem which was lower than 
the Temple was that now called Ophel. We know also 
that in this quarter was the Tower of David, builded for 
an armoury 6 , which was probably not far from the palace. 
The circumstance that David, from the roof of his house, 
saw Bathsheba at her bath, may be thought to indicate 
the vicinity of a pool ; and, were this so, the pool 
referred to would be that of which the remains were 
not long since discovered below the Temple platform at 



1 2 Sam. vii. 2. 1 Chron. xvii. 1. 
3 2 Chron. viii. 11. 
5 1 Kings viii. 1, 6. 

b 3 



2 1 Chron. xv. 1. 
4 2 Sam. xxiv. 23. 
6 Cant. iv. 4. 



6 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



the south-east. 1 However, Josephus, who could best 
speak to the habits of his own country, writes that 
Bathsheba was performing her ablutions in her own 
house. 2 Some light is thrown upon the position of 
David's palace by a passage in Nehemiah, for when one 
of the two great companies of thanks paraded from 
the Jaffa gate southward to the south-east corner of 
the High Town, " at the fountain gate which was over 
against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of 
David at the going up of the wall, above the house of 
David, even unto the water gate (of the Temple)." 3 So 
that the royal residence was clearly on the eastern hill, 
and to the south of the Temple, and probably on the site 
of what was afterwards known as the Palace of Helena. 4 
This locality of David's palace would agree also with the 
incidental notice, that when Absalom rebelled against his 
father, and David fled by the ascent of Olivet, the two 
spies who were to communicate with the royal palace 
in the city were posted at En-rogel, the fountain or well 
just below the southern point of the eastern hill. 5 

We have assumed that Sion is the eastern hill, and 
this, we think, will be admitted as the better opinion 
after a perusal of the following extract, which we have 
great pleasure in citing from a publication of great learn- 
ing by Mr. Thrupp. 6 « Throughout the Psalms and 
prophetical writings," he observes, " from first to last, 
Zion is spoken of as the Holy Hill, the dwelling-place of 
the Holy One of Israel, the mountain of the House of 
the Lord. In the first place, Zion is well known as the 
Holy Mountain, ' Yet have I set my king upon my 
Holy Hill of Zion.' 7 'Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, 

1 Tobl. Top. ii. 78. 2 kv ry avrrjg oltia. — Ant. vii. 7,1 

3 Neh. xii. 37. 4 Bell. vi. 6, 3. * 2 Sam. xvii. 17. 

6 Thrupp's Ancient Jerusalem, p. 21. 7 p s> n 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



7 



and sound an alarm in my Holy Mountain: 1 ' So 
shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in 
Zion, my Holy Mountain: 2 4 Upon Zion shall be 
deliverance, and there shall be holiness: 3 

"Still more distinct, perhaps, are those passages which 
speak of Zion as the dwelling-place of the Lord (pas- 
sages far too numerous to quote at length). 4 So that 
the Lord is specially called the Lord of Hosts which 
dwelleth in Mount Zion. 5 His fire is in Zion, and his 
furnace in Jerusalem. 6 He promises to return to Zion. 7 
He is to reign over his people in Mount Zion. 8 He is 
great in Zion. 9 Zion is told that the Holy One is in the 
midst of her 10 , and she is thus the place of the name of 
the Lord of Hosts u , the Zion of the Holy One of Israel 12 , 
and the songs of Zion are the Lord's songs. 13 The 
phrase 6 Holy Mountain ' is expressly explained to 
mean 6 the mountain of the Lord of Hosts,' 14 that is 
the Zion to which the Lord is returned. In a yet more 
forcible manner God is spoken of as choosing Zion 15 , 
the Mount Zion which He loved 16 , the Zion whose 
gates are dearer to Him than all the dwellings of J acob 17 ; 
or as founding Zion 18 , and laying a precious corner-stone, 
a sure foundation therein. 19 Zion then being the Lord's 



i Joelii. 1. 2 JoeliiL 17 ' 

3 Obad. 17. 

4 See, besides those cited, Ps. ix. 11 ; lxviii. 16 ; lxxiv. 2; lxxvi. 
2 ; cxxxii. 14. Joel iii. 17, 21. 

s Is. viii. 18. 6 Is.xxxi. 9. 

7 Zech. viii. 3. 8 Micil - iv « 7 - 

9 Ps. xcix. 2. 10 Is - xii - 6 ' 

11 Is. xviii. 7. 

12 Is. lx. 14. 13 Ps - cxxxvii. 3, 4. 
H Zecli. viii. 3. 15 P s - cxxxiL 13 ' 

16 Ps. lxxviii. 68. 17 P s - Ixxxvii. 2. 

is Is. xiv. 32. 19 Is - xxviiL 16 ' 

B 4 



8 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



dwelling-place, it is not surprising that we should read 
of His sending His blessing out of Zion 1 , or of His 
strengthening His anointed out of Zion 2 ; of salvation 
coming out of Zion 3 ; of the law going forth from Zion 4 ; 
or, lastly, that in that beautifully poetical picture which 
the Psalmist puts before us of God coming to judge 
His people, He should be said to shine out of Zion, the 
perfection of beauty. 5 

" It will hardly be questioned that Zion was God's 
dwelling-place. The reason was, that on this hill the 
Jewish Temple stood. Thus, in the Prophets Isaiah and 
Micah, instead of the 4 mountain of the Lord,' we have 
the less common but more definite expression of the 
6 mountain of the Lord's house.' 6 It is the Temple 
that is most probably to be understood by the phrase, 
• the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion,' 7 although it is 
not necessary to weaken the force of the present argu- 
ment by adducing any passage with respect to the in- 
terpretation of which any doubt can exist. We have 
evidence enough, and to spare, to prove that the Temple 
stood on Mount Zion, without being obliged to vindicate 
the true meaning of any isolated text. The Jewish 
priests are called the priests of Zion 8 ; and when, on 
the solemn feast-day, they are ordered to weep between 
the porch and the altar of the Temple, it is in Zion that 
the trumpet is to be blown. 9 It is to Zion, the city of 
the Jewish solemnities 10 , that all the Israelites came up 11 

1 Ps. cxxviii. 5 ; cxxxiv. 3. 

2 Ps. xx. 2 ; ex. 2. 3 Ps> xiv 7 . 6> 
4 Is. ii. 3. Mic. iv. 2. 5 Ps ls 2 . 

6 Is. ii. 2. Mic. iv. 1. 

7 Lam. ii. 4. 8 Lam. i. 4. 

9 Joel ii. 15. 10 is. xxxiii. 20. 
11 Ps. lxxxiv. 7. Jer. 1, 5. Lam. i, 4, 



REIGN OF DAVID, 



9 



to keep the solemn feasts 1 ; and in Zion, in the courts of 
the Lord's house, that they love to show forth his 
praises." 2 

These passages show that Sion was the hill on which 
the Temple was built, that is, the eastern hill ; and 
down even to the time of the Maccabees the name of 
Sion attached itself to the eastern Mil only. But in the 
first century after Christ the word Sion, which, perhaps, 
had always belonged rather to the region of poetry than 
history, had entirely disappeared, and Josephus never 
once alludes to it. 

When Jerusalem, after its utter destruction by Titus, 
rose again from its ashes, localities came to be strangely 
confused, and the name of Sion was assigned most im- 
properly to the western instead of the eastern hill. 
Even so early as the Itinerary of Jerusalem, a.d. 333, the 
Bordeaux Pilgrim speaks of the western hill by the 

name of Sion. 

It was in the very last days of King David that an 
incident occurred, the account of which will tend to 
elucidate the early topography of J erusalem. Adonijah, 
his son, had entered upon the nefarious design of 
seizing the crown, and " prepared liimself chariots and 
horsemen, and fifty men to run before him;" 3 and he 
« slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of 
Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel" 4 (in the Valley of 
Jehoshaphat, at the south-east corner of J erusalem) ; 
and assembled Abiathar the priest, and Joab the cap- 
tain of the host, and a numerous retinue of friends 
and supporters at the banquet. This treasonable pro- 

1 Lam. ii. 6. 

2 Ps. ix. 14; lxv. 1. cxxxv. 21. Jer. 1. 28; li* 10. Cf. Ps. 
cxvi. 19.. 

s 1 Kings i. 5. 4 1 Kings i. 9. 



10 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



ceecling was not unknown to Nathan the prophet and 
Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the captain of the guard, 
and others who were interested in securing the succes- 
sion to Solomon, the son of David by Bathsheba. Nathan 
therefore went to the queen, and informed her of the 
doings at En-rogel, and a little drama was concerted 
between them. Bathsheba was to present herself 
before David, and remind him of his promise, real or 
pretended, that Solomon should be his successor ; and 
while she was yet speaking, Nathan, arriving as if by 
accident at the same moment, was to confirm her tale. 
Their parts were well acted, and while Queen Bath- 
sheba was closeted with David, Nathan was announced, 
who, in hurried tones, proclaimed the treason that was 
hatching at En-rogel. " They drink before him, and 
say, God save king Adonijah ! " l David, weighed down 
by years and infirmities, succumbed before their joint 
influence, and gave the order : " Cause Solomon, my 
son, to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down 
to Gihon; and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the 
prophet there anoint him king over Israel : and blow 
ye with the trumpet and say, God save king Solomon!" 2 
The cavalcade hastened down to Gihon, and Solomon 
was there anointed king ; and no sooner was the cere- 
mony ended, than they blew with the trumpet, and the 
people shouted, God save king Solomon ! and escorted 
him in triumph up to the city. Adonijah and his 
guests were still seated at the banqueting-table at 
En-rogel, but little distant from Gihon, when the sound 
of the trumpet and the shout of the people reached 
their ears. The old soldier, Joab, first caught the 
alarm. " Wherefore is this noise of the city being in 



1 1 Kings i. 25. 



2 1 Kings i. 33. 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



11 



an uproar?" and while he yet spake, Jonathan, the 
youthful son of Abiathar, rushed in, and Adonijah 
greeted him with, " Come in, for thou art a valiant 
man, and bringest good tidings." But no sooner did 
Jonathan announce that Solomon was king, than the 
countenances of the fawning flatterers fell, " and all the 
guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose 
up, and went every man his way;" and Adonijah 
himself, hi whose ears the acclamation, " God save king 
Adonijah ! " was still ringing, fled for his life, and laying 
hold of the horns of the altar claimed the benefit of 
the asylum. 

As this is the first mention made of the mysterious 
Gihon, we must pause upon it for a moment. Gihon 
was apparently the old name for the Valley of J ehosha- 
phat. The latter name is said not to have been known 
until after the Christian era, and is thought to have 
been taken from the prophecy of Joel hi. 2 — 12, that 
God should judge the heathen for their oppression of 
His people " in the valley of Jehoshaphat ;" phraseo- 
logy not indicating any particular locality, but applied 
figuratively, the word Jehoshaphat signifying " Jeho- 
vah juclgeth." 1 Gihon is compounded of two He- 
brew words, and *n, which import the Valley of 
Beauty. 2 The former, in its primary sense, signifies 
a gush of water, and thence the channel formed 
by the water, and so a valley. The term would 
thus be most appropriate to the Valley of Jeho- 
shaphat, as containing the only running stream about 
Jerusalem. The Fountain of the Virgin, which rises 
at the bottom of the ravine, a little to the south of the 
Haram, had originally flowed into the brook Kidron, 

1 Robins. B. R. i. 269. 2 See Calmet. 



12 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



but was artificially carried by a conduit across the 
ridge of Sion to the Pool of Siloam, from which it now 
winds its way back again into the Valley of Jehoshaphat. 
This was the lower watercourse of Gihon. More to 
the north was anciently another spring, called the upper 
watercourse of Gihon, which was stopped or sealed in 
the time of Hezekiah, and conveyed to the west side of 
the city of David. On the north, where the upper 
spring diffused its genial influence, were olive groves 
and fields. On the south, where the Lower Gihon 
discharged itself, namely, in the plain at the junction 
of the three valleys of Jehoshaphat, the Tyropceon, 
and Hinnom, were the king's vineyards and gardens. 1 
Here, even at the present day, are grown the vegetables 
for the supply of the Jerusalem market 2 , and here are 
the pleasure-grounds of Jerusalem, to which in summer 
the inhabitants of the sultry city repair at eventide to 
sip their coffee and smoke their narghilehs. 3 The care 
once bestowed upon this royal demesne is evidenced by 
the singular circumstance, that here alone in the neigh- 
bourhood of J erusalem all the stones have been removed, 
and a rich mould only remains. 4 What must have been 
the attraction of the scene when the treasures of the 
kings of Juclah were bestowed upon the culture of the 
natural paradise ! It is to these enchanting gardens of 
Gihon, fed by the running rills of Siloam, that the Son 
of Sirach alludes : " God," he says, " maketh the doc- 
trine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Gihon in 
the time of vintage. The first man knew her not per- 
fectly, no more shall the last man find her out. For 
her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels 
profounder than the great deep. I also came out as a 

1 Zech. xiv. 10. 2 De Sanley, ii. 244. 

3 Schultz, 79. 4 Robins. B. R. i. 272. 



REIGN OF DAVID. 



13 



brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden. I 
said, I will water my best garden ; I will water abun- 
dantly my garden bed ; and lo ! my brook became a 
river, and my river became a sea." 1 It was at En- 
rogel, at the south of these gardens, that Adonijah 
was feasting his partisans when Solomon, mounted on 
the royal mule, was led clown to Gihon, and there 
anointed king. According to Josephus, Adonijah was 
carousing " without the city by the fountain at the royal 
gardens," 2 that is, by En-rogel ; and Solomon was con- 
ducted in like manner " without the city" " to the foun- 
tain called Gihon," 3 that is, to the lower watercourse of 
Gihon, the Fountain of the Virgin. The Gihon of 
Josephus could only be either Siloam or the Fountain 
of the Virgin ; and it was not the former, for Siloam 
was familiarly known to Josephus, and is always refer- 
red to by that name, so that he could scarcely in this 
place have intended Siloam under the name of Gihon. 

Adonijah, then, was saluted as king at the well of 
En-rogel, and Solomon was anointed king at the next 
living well higher up the valley, the Fountain of the 
Virgin ; and the two were so near to each other, that 
the shouts raised by the one company could well 
reach the ears of the other. The excavated pool, the 
Fountain of the Virgin, was afterwards known as Solo- 
mon's Pool, and it may have been so called from the 
inauguration of Solomon there on this occasion. 4 



1 Ecclus. xxiv. 27. 

2 efa Trjg iroXeiog napa t))v Ttny^v T))v iv /3e«n\iKw TrapaMay.— 
Ant. vii. 14, 4. 

3 efa tT]Q ttoXewc km ti)v 7n?y^ rrjv \eyof.uvnv Tiwv. — Ant. vn. 
14, 5. 

4 The identity of Gihon with the Valley of Jehoshaphat result? 
also from the fact, that Manasseh built a wall without the city o: 



lzt KE1GJS T OF SOLOMON. 

• 

Solomon, the successor of David, occupies the same 
position in the Hebrew monarchy that Augustus, the 
successor of Cassar, did in the Koman. The military 
and political talent of David established the kingdom, 
and Solomon gathered the fruits. The reign of Solo- 
mon was the golden age of the Jewish state. The 
trade with Arabia and the East Indies by the channel 
of the Eed Sea put him in possession of boundless 
wealth, and he poured it with profusion upon the rocky 
sides of Mount Sion, the eastern hill. His principal 
enterprises were : 1. The Temple ; 2. Millo ; 3. The 
Palace ; 4. The Walls of Jerusalem. 

I. Of the Temple. 

Josephus, in the Wars, his earliest work, and written 
when he had not made the same deep research into the 
antiquities of his country that he afterwards did, states 
that the Inner Temple only, with one cloister, the east- 
ern, was erected by Solomon, and that the other clois- 
ters of the Inner Temple, and the whole of the Outer 
Temple, were the gradual work of succeeding ages. 1 
In the Antiquities, however, when Josephus had more 
thoroughly investigated the subject, he enters into de- 
tail, and there ascribes to Solomon both the Inner and 
the Outer Temple, with all the cloisters of both. 2 The 
site of the Temple was originally the threshing-floor of 

David, on the west side of the Valley of Gihon, to the Fish Gate 
(2 Chron. xxxiii. 14); for, as the Fish Gate lay at the north-east 
of the city, no wall could have been built to it on the west of any 
valley except the Valley of Jehoshaphat. (See post.) 

1 rov Be paaiXicog ZoXofjiGtvog, og §jj teal rbv vabv 'eicnas, to kclt 
ctraroXag jiipog eKrei X i<ravToc, elr eridrj fiia aroa x^art, kcu 

k ara ye ra Xonrd /^eprj yvjivbg b raog jjv, etc. — Bell. v. 5, 1. 

2 Ant. viii. 3, 1 ; xv. 11, 3; xx. 9, 7. 



EEIGN OF SOLOMON. 



15 



Araunah, and the threshing was in the usual Oriental 
style, i. e. the corn was trodden out by oxen. 1 There 
must have been from, the first therefore a level space of 
considerable extent, for the oxen to make their rounds. 
But the Temple was to be no ordinary structure, and, 
according to Josephus, a greatly enlarged area was 
obtained by reducing the summit, and erecting walls 
round the sides with stones of immense size, fastened 
together with lead 2 , and by then filling up the hollow 
spaces between the walls and the mount with solid 
masonry, cramped together with iron. 3 There can be 
little doubt that these immense stones, which even in 
the days of Josephus are described as " immovable 
for all time," are, notwithstanding the successive de- 
structions of the city, still to be seen resting in their 
adamantine beds, if not elsewhere, at least at the south- 
west corner of the present Haram. 

The space thus enclosed by Solomon being the Outer 
Temple was a square, each side measuring a stadium, 
the dimensions which the Outer Temple preserved to 
the last. 4 Within the square was another raised plat- 
form, and within that another platform still, upon which 
was the sacred edifice itself. These successive ter- 
races were an imitation of the Assyrian style of archi- 
tecture, which at that time prevailed more or less 
all over Syria, and particularly at Tyre. The restora- 
tion by Eawlinson of the Assyrian temple called Birs 
Kimroud 5 , long supposed to be the veritable Tower 

1 1 Chron. xxi. 23. 2 Sam. xxiv. 22. 

2 Trerpaig juo\t/33w dedefxevaig 7rpdg aWrjXag. — Ant. XV. 11, 3. 

3 ra3' kvTOQ oidrjpo) ^LY](T(pa\i(j^,iva avviyziv rag apjioydg aKLPr/rovg 
tu> ttolvtI xpovu). — Ant. xv. 11, 3. 

4 rrjg oiKodofifjc rerpayojvov yevofiirng. — Ant. xv. 11,3. f-irjitog 
(rraZiov. — xv. 11, 5. elg TETpaKoaiovg TCYiyeig.—— Ant. viii. 3, 9. 

5 See Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture, vol. i. p. 183. 



16 



REIGN OF SOLOMON, 



of Babel, but since proved to have been erected by 
Nebuchadnezzar, whose name is stamped upon all the 
bricks, will illustrate, by its successive tiers of ascend- 
ing rectangles, the external appearance of the Jewish 
Temple. The capitals of the columns probably more 
nearly resembled the Corinthian order than any other. 
Such was indisputably the style of architecture of the 
Temple in the time of Herod 1 ; and as it is mentioned 
that the two brazen columns set up by Solomon at the 
eastern entrance of the Temple had capitals formed of 
lilies and pomegranates, they were, we may presume, 
Corinthian. 2 The architecture of the palace of Herod 
was certainly Corinthian 3 , and could scarcely have 
differed from that of the Temple, which was immediately 
contiguous. The site of the Temple square was at the 
south-west corner of the present Haram Sherif, as we 
shall have occasion to explain more at large hereafter. 

H. Of Millo. 

The scattered notices upon this subject are not 
numerous, and it will be convenient to present them 
to the reader collectively in the first instance. 

First, then, the name of Millo 4 signifies, in Hebrew, 
the filling up, or embankment ; so that, from the force 
of the word itself, we look around in search of some 
great earthwork. 

Secondly. The construction of Millo must have been 

1 KiovoKpavtov avroiQ rbv Kopivdiov rpoirov kire^eipyavnEVWv y\v- 
(palg. — Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

2 yuvtvrbv e(j> EKa.TF.pa tcstyaXrj KpLvov e^elctt^kei, to v\pog ettl 

7TEVTE 7r//)(£lC yyEJE p/JLEVO V, U) TTEpiEKELTO h'lKTVOV EXaTY) ya\\CEiq. 7V£pi- 

TT£Tz\r}yn£Vov to. Kpiva. — Ant. viii. 3, 4. 

3 ElEpyacrfiirop c>£ Kopivdtojg. — Ant. viii. 5, 2. 

4 K'te, from implevit, 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



17 



exceedingly costly, for the levy macie upon the king- 
dom for its construction was one of the sources of dis- 
affection which led eventually to the revolt of the ten 
tribes under Jeroboam. " And this was the cause that 
he [Jeroboam] lifted up his hand against the king : 
Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the 
city of David, his father." 1 

Tliirdly. From the way in which, in the last citation, 
Millo is connected with the breaches of the city of 
David, i. e. the outer wall of Jerusalem on the eastern 
hill, it may be inferred that Millo formed part of the 
external defences of the city: and this is almost con- 
clusively shown from a passage in the reign of Hezekiah ; 
for when Sennacherib was advancing against J erusalem 
to besiege it, Hezekiah " built up all the wall that was 
broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall 
without ; and repaired Millo in the city of David, and 
made darts and shields in abundance." 2 

Fourthly. Millo was also in some way connected with 
the Temple, for, " Then did he [Solomon] build Millo ; 
and three times in a year did he oner bimrt-offerings 
and peace-offerings upon the altar which he built up to 
the Lord; and he burnt incense upon the altar that 
was before the Lord ; so he finished the house.'" 3 The 
Temple, therefore, was considered as imperfect until 
Millo also had been completed. 

These features are to be found together in one, and 
only one, great work, the platform on which stands the 
Mosque of Omar, called the Haram esh Sherif. This 
area is upwards of 1500 feet long from north to south, 
and upwards of 900 feet broad from east to west. It 
was evidently at one time surrounded on all sides by a 



1 1 Kings xi. 27. 



2 2 Cliron. xxxii. 5. 
C 



3 1 Kings ix. 24. 



18 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



wall of gigantic proportions, which must have rendered 
it the strongest fortification in Jerusalem. 

Huge bevelled stones of Jewish masonry have been 
traced from the fosse called Bethesda on the north all 
down the eastern side, and then along the southern, and 
then up the western side, until it reaches a wall of rock 
at the north-west corner l , so that the whole platform 
was evidently of one uniform design. This, from Solomon 
downward, was, at the same time, the outwork of the 
Temple and the Acropolis of the city ; the platform and 
the Temple standing in the same relation to each other 
at Jerusalem that the Acropolis and the Parthenon did 
at Athens. In the Chronicles 2 Millo is rightly trans- 
lated in the Septuagint, " the raised bulwark of the city 
of David • " 3 and it was, no doubt, identical with " the 
high embankment of the Temple platform," mentioned 
by the Son of Sirach 4 ; Josephus also speaks of the 
Temple as " fenced in with exceeding strength by a 
stone ambit 5 ; and Tacitus describes the Temple as re- 
sembling " a citadel with outer walls of its own, in mag- 
nitude and finish surpassing all the rest ; while the very 
cloisters which ran round the Temple were a formidable 
rampart." 6 And Dion observes to the same effect, that 

1 The writer of Murray's Handbook for Syria, p. 133, who was 
admitted into the interior of the Haram, observes : " On reaching the 
northern end we observe a section of the massive ancient wall on 
the left," i. e. at the north-west corner. 

2 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. 

3 to avaXrjfXfia rrjg ttoXewq Aavid. — 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. 

4 avaKrjjjL^La v^rfkbv TrepifioXov Ispov. — Ecclus. 1. 1, 2. 

5 TO lepOV XlOll'M 7T£pi(36\(i) KCipTSpiOQ TTaVV TETEl^MJ fXEi'OP . Ant. 

xiv. 4, 1. Bell. i. 7, 1. 

6 " Templnm in modum arcis propriique muri, labore et opere 
ante alios ; ipsaa porticus, queis templum ambiebatur, egregium 
propugnaculum." — Tac. Hist. v. 12. 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



19 



the Temple was erected on an eminence, and secured by 
a bulwark of its own. 1 

The space within the Haram has a slight inclination 
from north-west to south-east. The rock has been cut 
away at the south-east corner where the fall is great- 
est, and the ground has been raised by vaults ; and 
at the south-west corner is a solid mass of earthwork, 
which was, no doubt, intended to sustain the super- 
incumbent weight of the Temple above, and to resist 
the pressure of the vast bridge abutting upon it from 
the west. To judge how exactly this artificial plateau 
answers to the description of Millo, or the Embankment, 
we must advert to some of the details. At the south-east 
angle the wall is 77 feet high on the exterior 2 , and on 
the interior is first a wall (say) 12 feet high above the 
general level of the Haram ; and underfoot is a space of 
about 5 feet in depth of earth ; and then come the 
vaults, about 30 feet in depth, and the rest, more than 
30 feet of further depth, is either the rock escarped or 
solid masonry. In other parts the height of the outer 
wall of the Haram varies with the nature of the ground, 
but the average is about 50 feet, and on the interior the 
height is from 12 to 15 feet ; so that the embankment, 
or escarpment, is in general upwards of 35 feet. At the 
south-west corner is still to be seen the fragment of an 
arch reaching along the wall 51 feet, and which, when 
perfect, had a span of 41 feet, and was the first only of 
a series of arches (say five or six), carrying a grand 
viaduct from the Temple mount to the High Town, a 

1 £7r< yt yap fierewpov i)v kcu TrtpifioXo) ldta> (b^vpu/ro. — Dion. 
xxxvii. 16. 

2 See view of the south-east corner from the east, in Traill's 
Josephus, xxxi., and from the south, ib. xxxii. 

c 2 



20 



HEIGN OF SOLOMON. 



distance of 350 feet. 1 On the north of the plateau is 
the Pool of Bethesda, the greatest fosse known, which, 
so far as it reaches, must effectually have cut off all 
communication from the north. It is still 75 feet deep, 
and 130 feet wide. At present the fosse extends only 
460 feet, or less than half way along the northern side 
of the Haram 2 , but anciently it may have reached much 
further, or there may have been another corresponding 
fosse, since filled up, on the west. More probably, how- 
ever, at the north-west corner stood the high rock on 
which was afterwards erected the Macedonian Acra ; so 
that any outer fosse in that part would be unnecessary. 

If we could only picture to ourselves this vast plateau 
as it stood in the days of Solomon, the walls towering 
upward from 40 to 80 feet, and composed of massive 
stones cut into panels, and so nicely fitted together as 
to resemble one solid rock ; with the magnificent viaduct 
stretching across the deep valley of the Tyropoeon, from 
the south-west corner of the Temple to the High Town, 
and the gulf of the great fosse on the north ; we should 
at once confess that only the wealth of Solomon could 
have accomplished so prodigious an undertaking. 

Traces of the hand of Solomon are to be found in 
many features of this great work. Thus we know that 
the style of architecture adopted by Solomon was the 
Assyrian, which abounded in just such raised terraces 
as those of the Temple platform ; not only so, but fur- 
ther, the architects employed by Solomon were those 
of Tyre, where the Assyrian taste prevailed, and terrace- 
work was much in vogue. Indeed Josephus has pre- 
served some curious extracts from the Tyrian archives 

1 See Eobins. B. E. i. 288. Barclay, 102. 

2 Eobins. B. E. i. 293. 



KEIGX OF SOLOMON. 



21 



relating to that very period, and they so exactly describe 
the Temple platform, with its viaduct to the High Town, 
that we can scarcely believe that the words do not refer 
to the labours of Solomon, not of a king of Tyre. " On 
the death of Abibal," writes Menander, who translated 
the archives into Greek, " his son Hiram succeeded to 
the kingdom. He cast up the broad plateau (to svpu- 
X ( '°p ov ) • • • an d cut a quantity of timber on Mount Li- 
banon for the roofs of the Temples" And Dius thus : 
" On the death of Abibal, his son Hiram was king. He 
embanked the eastern parts of the city, and gave it greater 
extent ; and having made a viaduct across the intervening 
space, joined the Temple of Jupiter Olympius, which had 
stood by itself, to the city." 1 Again, the stones which 
still form the ancient foundations of the outer wall of 
the plateau are all bevelled, i. e. where they are joined 
a square channel or groove has been cut along the edges 
half an inch or more in depth, and one or two inches or 
more in width 2 ; and this character is found frequently 
in ancient buildings in Assyria 3 , and at Tyre 4 , but 
seldom elsewhere. When again we examine the vaults 
at the south-east corner, we observe all the supporting 
columns to be both bevelled and square 5 ; and we are 
told, both by Scripture and Josephus, that the pilars in 
the Palace of Solomon were not round, but square. 6 
And if the walls and south-eastern substructions were the 
work of Solomon, we must also attribute to him the via- 
duct or bridge at the south-west corner, for the massive 
stones which form the abutment of the arch are evidently 

i Ant. viii. 5, 3. 2 Barclay, 494. 

3 Fergusson's Handb. Arch. 187, 188. 

4 Robins. B. R. iii. 229. 

& See view of them, Bartlett's Jerus. 157. Barclay, 504. 
6 1 Kings vii. 5. Ant. viii. 5, 2. 



22 REIGN OF SOLOMON. 

part of the original wall. It need not surprise us that the 
arch should be found in an edifice of that age, for the 
" Pools of Solomon " were unquestionably constructed 
by him 1 ; and there also we find the use of the arch. 
Indeed, recent discoveries have established the fact, that 
the arch was employed in building both in the days of 
Nineveh 2 and in the still more remote times of the early 
Egyptian dynasties. 

That the great fosse at the north of the Haram was 
excavated by Solomon we should conclude from the 
circumstance that no other king of Israel could have 
had the opportunity or means of executing so costly a 
work. There was certainly a great fosse in that quar- 
ter long before the time of Herod, for Strabo makes 
particular mention of it in the siege of Jerusalem by 
Pompey. 3 

III. Of the Palace of Solomon, 

We have no account of the erection of a palace by 
any other king of Judah than Solomon, and we may, 
therefore, assume that the gorgeous structure built 
by him was that occupied by his successors. That 
such was the fact, may be collected from the following 
incident. 4 

Solomon had made 400 targets and 300 shields all 
of beaten gold, which were kept in his own palace, the 

1 Barclay, 102. 2 Robins, iii. 229. 3 Strabo, xyi. 2. 

4 Krafft (p. 114) places the Palace of Solomon at the north-east 
corner of Pseudo-Sion, and quotes Josephus as an authority that the 
Palace was opposite the Temple : avriKpvg 'kywv vaov (Ant. viii. 
5, 2). But this is quite a mistake. Josephus says only that the 
Palace had attached to it " a Temple," in which Solomon sat for the 
trial of causes. The Temple is not at all alluded to. 



REIGN OF SOLOMOX. 



23 



House of Lebanon. 1 But in the reign of Eehoboarn his 
son, Shishak king of Egypt took Jerusalem, and carried 
away " the treasures of the king's house ; he took all : 
he carried away also the shields of gold. Instead of 
which King Eehoboarn made shields of brass, and 
committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard 
that kept the entrance of the king's house ; and when 
the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard 
came and fetched them, and brought them again into 
the guard-chamber." 2 In other words, Solomon, on 
ascending the Temple in state, was attended by a body- 
guard carrying these golden shields, which were kept in 
his palace in the House of Lebanon ; and now when the 
brazen shields were substituted, the latter also were 
lodged " with the chief of the guard that kept the 
entrance of the king's house ;" and as the brazen shields 
were, no doubt, laid up where the golden shields had 
been before, the inference is, that the House of Leba- 
non, or Solomon's Palace, and the King's House, the 
palace of his successors, were identical. 

Where, then, did the King's House stand ? We may 
remark, in the first place, that the Scriptures, in speaking 
of the Palace and the Temple, invariably say, " to go 
down " from the house of the Lord to the king's house, 
and "to go up" from the king's house to the house of 
the Lord 3 , so that as the slope of the eastern ridge runs 
from north to south, the Palace was certainly to the 
south of the Temple. 4 

i 2 Chron. ix. 16. 2 2 Chron. xii. 9. 1 Kings xiv. 26. 

3 Jer. xxii. 1 ; xxvi. 10; xxxvi. 12. 2 Chron. viii. 11; ix. 4. 

1 Kings viii. 1, 4. 

4 For this we have also the authority of Brocardus, who wrote 
about a. d.. 1283: "Palatium Salomonis, quod eedificatum fuit in 
parte australi montis Moria." — c. 8. 

c 4 



24 REIGN OF SOLOMON. 

But the site of the Palace may be further ascertained 
from other passages of Scripture, and particularly from 
an episode in the history of Joash. 

Jehoram, king of Judah, married Athaliah, daughter 
of the wicked Aliab, king of Israel. Ahaziah, the fruit 
of this marriage, was thus, by descent, brought into 
intimacy with Joram, king of Israel, and became his 
ally in the war against Hazael, king of Syria. They 
both suffered a defeat, and Jehu thereupon revolted 
against the king of Israel, and Joram and Ahaziah 
were slain. No sooner were the tidings of this carried 
to Jerusalem, than Athaliah the queen-mother snatched 
at the opportunity of seating herself on the throne, and 
for this purpose attempted the utter extirpation of the 
royal stock by assassination. One child alone escaped, 
viz. Joash, the infant son of Ahaziah, who was se- 
creted by Jehoiada the high priest for six years. At 
the expiration of that time, Jehoiada assembled the 
chiefs of the nation into the Temple, and there pro- 
duced Joash, when steps were taken for proclaiming 
him king of Judah. The distribution of the armed 
force collected by Jehoiada is given differently in the 
Kings, and in the Chronicles, and in Josephus, but the 
most intelligible account is that in the Chronicles, 
according to which the Levites who entered upon their 
duties on the Sabbath to the relief of those who went 
out, were one third part " porters of the doors," that is, 
guarded the entrances of the Outer Temple ; another 
third part was " at the king's house," by which Jose- 
phus understands the Temple gate leading to the 
king's house 1 , and the remaining third part was at the 
"gate of the foundation," i. e. the gate leading to the Inner 

1 rijg avotyofj£in]Q kcu (ftepovarjc elg to Sa/riXetor 7rvX)]Q. — Ant. 

ix. 7, 2. 



EEIGN OF SOLOMON, 



25 



Temple, from the substructions at the east of the Temple, 
and by which the victims were brought up to the altar. 1 
Athaliah from her palace heard the shouts of the 
people, and rushed to the Temple ; but Jehoiada had 
laid his plans with foresight, and Athaliah was admitted, 
while her guard were excluded. On seeing J oash upon 
the royal stand, and in the robes of state, Athaliah, like 
another Jezebel, and with a spirit worthy of a better 
cause, cried Treason ! Treason ! and attempted, but in 
vain, to raise a party in her favour. Only the adherents 
of Jehoiada were present, and Athaliah was seized and 
forced out of the Temple. " They laid hands on her, 
and she went by the way by the which the horses came 
into the king's house, and there she was slain .... 
and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king's 
house." 2 "And they brought down the king [Joash] 
from the house of the Lord, and came by the way of the 
gate of the guard to the king's house, and he sat on the 
throne of the kings." 3 Athaliah was probably carried 
out of the Temple by the road which descended to the 
substructions, and was then thrust out of the Temple 
gate, the entrance to the substructions, and there slain 
before the Horse gate. As Athaliah was despatched 
at " the horse gate" " beside the kings house" the 
Palace and the Horse gate must have been contiguous ; 



1 The parallel passages run thus : — 



2 Kings xi. 

| are " keepers of the 
watch of the king's 
house." 

| "at the gate of Sur." 

| "at the gate behind 
the guard." 



2 Cheon. xxiii. 
| "at the king's house." 

| "at the gate of the 

foundation." 
| "porters of the doors." 



Jos. Ant. ix. 7. 
| at the gate leading to 
the king's house. 

| at the doors of the 

outer Temple. 
| in the Temple itself, as 

a guard to the king. 



2 2 Kings xvi. 20. 



3 2 Kings xi. 19. 



26 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



and the Horse gate was, without question, the gate 
which stood in the city wall, just south of the point 
where the city wall ran up to the southern wall of the 
Temple enclosure. Why it was called the Horse gate 
it is not difficult to conjecture. Of the 4000, or (as 
another text has it) the 40,000, horses maintained by 
Solomon, a great part was necessarily kept at Jerusa- 
lem ; and where could be the stables but in the vast 
vaults which still exist under the south-east corner of the 
Haram ? Whatever may be the date of the arches above, 
the square bevelled pillars supporting the roof may be 
referred to Solomon. In the time of the Crusaders 
they were still called Solomon's stables. 1 The Prison 
also which stood at the south of the Temple was, from 
its connection with these stables, called the Hippodrome, 
or race-course 2 , being, no doubt, " the prison which 
was in the king of Judah's house," where the prophet 
Jeremiah was incarcerated. 3 

From another chapter in the history of Joash, we 
learn not only the situation of the Palace, but also the 
proper name of it. In the latter days of his reign he 
was overtaken by severe sickness, and " his own ser- 
vants conspired against him and 'slew him on his bed 4 " 
in the house of Millo [or in Bethmillo\ which goeth down 
to Silla." 5 The Palace, therefore, was called Beth- 
millo, a name which it would naturally bear as adjoin- 
ing Millo, the great plateau on which stood the Temple. 
The Hebrew words rendered in the Authorised Ver- 
sion, " which goeth down to SiUa," have been variously 
interpreted. According to some they mean, " as he 

1 Barclay, 367. Robins. B. R. i. 302. 

2 Bell. ii. 3, 1. 

3 Jer. xxxii. 2. 

4 2 Chron. xxiv. 25. 5 2 Kings xii. 20. 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



27 



[Joash] was going down to Silla," and they suppose 
that Bethmillo lay on the road to Silla, which may 
have been some town or village in the neighbourhood ; 
but evidently Joash was residing in the royal palace in 
Jerusalem, and Silla, therefore, must have been some 
place in the city. It is almost unnecessary to remark 
that Silla has no relation to Siloam, the initial letter of 
the two words being different in Hebrew, though the 
same in English. According to its etymology, Silla is 
a chaussee, or causey 1 , and apparently was the road 
leading from the Palace westward down to the king's 
gardens in the Tyropoeon Valley. Zedekiah no doubt 
descended by it when he fled "by the way of the 
king's garden, by the gate between the two walls." 2 
But if Joash was assassinated as he was going down 
Silla, or the causey, from the Palace to the king's gar- 
dens, how are we to explain the words, " they slew him 
on his bed?" The Hebrew term translated " bed" sig- 
nifies not so much a bed as a litter for carrying the 
sick. 3 The passage should have been rendered thus : 
" They slew him on his fitter, as he was going down 
Silla," the causey from the Palace to the king's 
gardens. 

At the south of the Haram is a rectangular level space, 
290 feet north and south, and 325 feet east and west, 

1 » N Pp via aggesta et munita." — Simon's Hebr. Lex. The causey 
leading from Shallecheth, one of the western gates of the Temple, 
down into the valley, was also called with little variation mesilla 

Dp). 1 Chron. xxvi. 15, 18. Both silla and mesilla may be 
translated stairs as well as causey (see Simon's Hebr. Lex.); and the 
former is perhaps the more likely interpretation, as we know from 
Josephus that one at least of the western gates of the Temple led 
down to the valley and up again by steps. Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

2 Jer. xxxix. 4. 2 Kings xxv. 4. 

3 » nt2p lectica, sella gestatoria." — Simon's Hebr. Lex. 




28 REIGN OF SOLOMON". 

inclosed by the Haram wall on the north, aiicl by the 
city wall on the east and south ; and the southern wall 
on the interior is very low, while on the exterior it is 50 
feet high ; thus showing an embankment or solid mass 
of masonry, or earthwork, of very great depth. 1 That 
the Palace was contiguous to the Temple may be 
collected from a remarkable passage in the Prophet 
Ezekiel : " And he said unto me, Son of man, the 
place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my 
feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of 
Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of 
Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings . . . 
in their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and 
their post by my posts, and the wall between me and 
them." 2 As the Temple stood at the south-west corner 
of the present Haram, the Palace, if immediately below 
it upon the quadrangular area now the garden of El 
Aksa, would tally exactly with the prophet's language, 
for the Temple and Palace would thus be separated 
only by an intervening wal. 

The component parts of the Palace are not easily 
followed, but it would seem that it consisted, first, of 
the Grand Hall, called the House of the Forest of 
Lebanon, facing the east and fronting the Horse Gate ; 
and behind that, westward, was a great court formed 
at the sides by the Porch of Pillars on the one hand, 
and the Porch of Judgment on the other ; and at the 
back towards the west was the royal residence, in two 
compartments ; one the House of Solomon, and the 
other the House of Pharaoh's daughter, the queen. 
The House of Lebanon, which lay north and south, 
was the post of the guard whence Joash is said to 



i Robins. B. R. i- 285, 238. 



2 Ezek. xliii. 7. 



EEIGN OF SOLOMON. 



29 



have entered the Palace by the Gate of the Guard 1 , 
called elsewhere the High Gate. 2 

The House of Lebanon, as it was the front of the 
Palace, and under its stately portico was the royal ap- 
proach, is apostrophised by Jeremiah as the Palace 
itself, in his prediction of the destruction of the royal 
edifice : " Thus saith the Lord, Go down [i. e. from the 
Temple, where the prophet was] to the house of the 
kingofJudah, and there speak this word. ... If ye do 
this thing, then shall there enter in by the gates of this 
house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding 
in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and 
his people. . . . Thus saith the Lord unto the king's 
house of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me, and the 
head of Lebanon. . . . Yet surely they shall cut 
down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 
... inhabitant of Lebanon [Jehoiakim], that 
makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious thou shalt 
be when pangs come upon thee, as of a woman in 
travail ! " 3 How appropriate is this language, as ad- 
dressed to the king who was dwelling in the House of 
the Forest of Lebanon, or rather in the Palace of which 
this house was the imposing facade ! 

The greatest light thrown upon the architectural cha- 
racter of the Palace of Solomon is derived from the recent 
discoveries in and near Nineveh. Take, for instance, the 
north-west Palace of Mmroud, which would almost seem 
to have been the pattern after which the royal palace at 
Jerusalem was built. 4 Thus the Nimroud Palace is 
nearly a square, of about 330 feet each way, and the 
area of Solomon's Palace is 325 feet by 290 feet. In front 

1 2 Kings xi. 19. 2 2 Chron. xxiii. 20. 3 Jer. xxii. 1. 
4 See Fergusson's Handbook of Ar chit. 165. 



30 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



at Mmroud was a great hall, 152 feet long by 32 feet 
wide ; and in front, at Jerusalem, was a hall, the House 
of Lebanon, 150 feet by 75 feet. 1 The halls at Mm- 
roud were supported by rows of pillars, not of stone, 
but of wood 2 , and the Hall of Lebanon was supported 
by 3 rows 3 of cedar piUars, 15 in a row, making 
45 in the whole. 4 In the centre, at Mmroud, was 
a spacious open court ; and in the centre at Jeru- 
salem was also a court. 5 On the sides, at Mmroud, 
were suites of apartments three deep, decreasing in 
width as they receded from the light supplied from the 
great court ; and at Jerusalem were windows in three 
rows, and light against light in three ranks. 6 At Mm- 
roud, in the rear was a double suite of apartments ; and 
in the rear at Jerusalem were the separate suites of the 
king and the queen. 7 At Mmroud the interior walls 
were lined with sculptured slabs ; and at Jerusalem the 
apartments were also wainscoted with stones carved in 
imitation of trees and plants. 8 

The Palace of Solomon was below the Temple plat- 
form, and in laying the solid foundations of Millo, pro- 
vision had been made for a double passage from the Palace 
to the Temple, about 250 feet long and 42 feet wide. 
It was formed of bevelled stones to imitate paneling, 
and rose by a gentle incline, through the heart of the 
mass to one of the gates of the Temple. 9 This mar- 
vellous subterranean approach, impregnable from its 
nature to the ravages of time, still remains, though 

1 1 Kings vii. 2. 2 Fergusson's Handbook of Archit. 188. 

3 In the Vulgate four rows; a mistake which is corrected by the 
Septuagint. 

4 1 Kings vii. 2, 3. 5 1 Kings vii. 8. 6 1 Kings vii. 4. 
7 1 Kings vii. 8. 8 Jos. Ant. vii. 5, 2. 
9 See a description more in detail, post. 



REIGN OF SOLOMON. 



31 



it lias been painfully disfigured and disguised by suc- 
cessive temple-wardens, church- war dens, and mosque- 
wardens. It is called to this day the Temple of 
Solomon, and here, if anywhere, a genuine relic of that 
famous monarch may be seen, The entrance to it is 
some fifteen or twenty feet above the level of the 
ground without 1 , and a flight of steps must originally 
have led up to it. The Assyrian architecture was 
remarkable for the prominence and splendour of its 
flights of steps 2 ; and Solomon, who studiously copied 
the Assyrian style, no doubt invested this grand ap- 
proach to the Temple with the most profuse ornament. 
This is the " ascent by which Solomon went up to the 
house of the Lord," which, when the Queen of Sheba 
saw, "there was no more spirit in her." 3 The sub- 
terranean passage terminated in the inner court, at 
the tribune or rostrum set apart for the kings. It was 
by that long gallery that Solomon ascended to the 
Temple, and from this royal Bema that he pronounced 
the prayer at the dedication : " For Solomon had made 
a brazen scaffold [or rostrum], of five cubits long, and 
five cubits broad, and three cubits high, in the midst 
of the court ; and he kneeled down before all the con- 
gregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards 
heaven, and said," &c. 4 This scaffold, or pulpit, of 
five feet square, and four and a half feet high, is else- 
where translated a pillar or pedestal. Thus, when the 
Temple had been filled by Jehoiada's adherents, and 
the high-spirited Athaliah, rushing out of her palace, 
mounted up to the Temple, and dared, without a 

1 Robins. B. R. i. 305. 

2 Fergusson's Handbook of Arcliit. 190. 

3 1 Kings x. 5. 2 Chron. ix. 4. 

4 2 Chron. vi. 13. 



32 REIGN OF SOLOMON. 

single guard at her side, to throw herself at once 
into the midst of her enemies, she was astounded 
on seeing Joash at the post of royalty ; " and she 
looked, and behold the king stood at his pillar at the 
entering in ;" 1 or, as Josephus paraphrases it, and she 
saw the lad standing upon the pillar, i. e. the platform 
of royalty. 2 This brazen Bema was afterwards sacri- 
legiously removed by King Ahaz and presented to 
Tiglath-Pileser, in the vain hope of buying succour 
from him ; « and the king's entry [the rostrum at 
the end of the gallery] without [the sanctuary] turned 
he from the house of the Lord, for the king of 
Assyria." 3 

IY. Of the Walls of Solomon. 

The High Town on the west, and the Low Town on 
the east, had originally each been surrounded by sepa- 
rate lines of fortification ; but, as we have seen, when 
David became master of both, he built from Millo 
round about, i. e. from the north-west corner of the 
present Haram towards the north-west and then south- 
ward to the wall of the High Town, and also "in- 
ward," or to the south, across the Valley of the Tyro- 
poBon, so as thus to blend the High Town and Low 
Town into one city. When, therefore, it is said 4 that 
Solomon, the successor of David, built " the wall of 
Jerusalem round about," it can only be meant that he 
repaired and amplified the walls which had previously 
existed. In the same manner Solomon did not build, 
but " repaired the breaches of the city of David," 5 -— 

1 2 Chron. xxiii. 13. 2 Kings xxiii. 3. . 1Q 

2 M rm orilUs karura.-Ant. ix. 7, 3. 3 2 Kings xyi .18. 

. -yr- • * * i i 5 1 Kings xi. 27. 

4 1 Kings m. 1. n 



TIME OF THE KINGS. 



that is, lie enlarged and improved the walls erected by- 
David his father. Such is the gloss of Joseph us, for he 
writes that Solomon, " having repaired the walls of 
Jerusalem, made them much greater and stronger than 
they were before ;" 1 and adds that Solomon erected 
towers also, so as to make the line of defences worthy 
of the monarch who resided within them. 2 

On the death of Solomon, a deputation waited on his 
son Eehoboam, on the subject of the heavy imposts 
which his father had levied ; and when the young hot- 
headed prince returned the hasty and impolitic answer, 
that " his little finger should be thicker than his father's 
loins," the ten tribes, with Jeroboam at their head, broke 
out into open revolt. 

From this time to the destruction of the city by 
Nebuchadnezzar, the house of Judah was constantly 
engaged either in civil wars with the house of Israel, or 
in defending itself against the inroads of the Chaldees 
and Egyptians. There was neither leisure nor trea- 
sure for the decoration or improvement of Jerusalem ; 
but the kings employed all their thoughts and means 
upon the safety of themselves and their people. With 
the exception of the high gate of the Temple, erected 
by Jotham, in the place where afterwards stood the 
Corinthian or Beautiful gate 3 , all the works taken in 
hand by the kings, from Solomon to Zedekiah, were 
either for the repair of the walls, or the increase of the 
towers, or the supply of water against a siege. The 

1 Kai KaraaKevdaag rd re'iyi) rwc 'lepoffoXvfiojv 7roXXaj fiet^b) Kai 
6"xypb)Tepa rdv irpoadev optwv, &c. — Ant. viii. 2, 1. 

2 £7rei de eojpa rd tCjv 'lepoaroXv/Jioy re'iyj] 6 IjcmtlXevq ivvpyuyv 
irpog aatyaXeiq. de6jj,eva Kai rr]g aXXrjg o^vpwrrjroCf etc. — Ant. viii. 

6, 1. 

3 2 Kings xv. 35. 2 Cliron. xxvii. o. 

D 



34 TIME OF THE KINGS. 

topographical notices, even of this kind, are few and far 
between, and are soon enumerated. 

Amaziah, king of Judah, was successful against the 
Edomites, and, puffed up by his good fortune, was em- 
boldened to challenge Jehoash, king of Israel, to a trial 
of strength. Amaziah was defeated in battle and taken 
captive, and Jehoash possessed himself of Jerusalem. 
Amaziah was suffered to remain on the throne, but the 
king of Israel left him in a helpless plight, by " break- 
ing down the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of 
Ephraim unto the corner gate, 400 cubits." 1 A corner 
may be either a reentering or a projecting angle ; and 
while in English the word " corner " is used to express 
both, in Hebrew a projecting angle has an appropriate 
and peculiar term ; and in the present instance, by 
" corner " must be understood exclusively a projecting 
angle. What, then, was the position of this Corner 
gate ? We have some clue to it from more than one 
notice of it in the Prophets. 

Jeremiah, in order to encourage Judah during the cap- 
tivity, predicts that Jerusalem should again be inhabited, 
and that the borders of it should even be extended. 
" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city 
shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel 
unto the gate of the comer [external] ; and the measuring 
line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill 
Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the 
whole'valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and 
all the fields unto the brook Keclron, unto the horse gate 
toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord." 2 The 
tower of Hananeel, there can be little doubt, stood at the 
north-west corner of the Temple inclosure, and probably 



i 2 Kings xiv. 13. 2 Chron. xxv. 23. 



2 Jer. xxxi. 38. 



TIME OF THE KINGS. 



35 



occupied the site of the fortress known in after ages by 
the name of Acra. The gate of the corner which is op- 
posed to it would therefore stand at the north-west cor- 
ner of the city. The sense of the whole passage is, that 
Jerusalem should be restored to its old limits in breadth, 
from Hananeel at the north-west corner of the Tem- 
ple inclosure, to the Corner gate at the north-west 
corner of the city ; and not only so, but that it should 
spread itself on the north over Gareb or Bezetha, on 
the west over Goath or Golgotha (the hill which lay 
along the western limb of the second wall), on the 
south to the Valley of Hinnom, famous for its sepul- 
chres and idolatrous sacrifices, and on the east to the 
corner next the Horse gate, which, at the south-east 
angle of the Temple, overlooked the Valley of Kedron. 
Thus the prophet completes the circle from the north- 
west corner of the Temple until he reaches the sanc- 
tuary again at the south-east corner of it ; a prophecy 
which received its fulfilment in the days of Agrippa, 
who, in a.d. 43, erected the third wall, and so inclosed 
both Gareb and Golgotha. 

The Corner gate is also mentioned by the prophet 
Zechariah : " It [Jerusalem] shall be lifted up and in- 
habited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the 
place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from 
the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses." 1 
Benjamin's gate was on the east side of the city % and 
at the north of the Temple platform 3 ; and Hananeel was 
the tower at the north-west of the Temple inclosure, and 
the king's winepresses were in the king's gardens at the 
south-east of the city by Siloam. The prophet, therefore, 
gives first the breadth of the city by the gates, viz. from 



1 Zech. xiv. 10. * j er xx. 2, 3 Ezek> ix> 2 . 



36 



TIME OF THE KINGS. 



Benjamin's gate on the north-east 1 to the Corner gate 
at the north-west angle of the city ; and then the length 
of the eastern side by the towers, viz. from the tower 
of Hananeel on the north to the king's winepresses on 
the south. 

From these references, we may conclude that the 
400 cubits of wall broken down in the time of Amaziah 
by Jehoash, from the Corner gate to the Gate of 
Ephraim were 400 cubits from the north-west corner 
of the city along the western side, as far as another 
gate called the Gate of Ephraim. 2 

Amaziah was succeeded by his son Uzziah, who " built 
towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley 
gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them." 5 
The Valley gate was certainly at the north-west corner 
of the High Town, now the Jaffa gate, and the Corner 

1 Benjamin's gate was not quite at the north-east corner, but 
there was no other gate, or at least none of importance, beyond it 
toward the east. 

2 It deserves notice, that the Gate of Ephraim and the Corner 
gate were only 400 cubits, or 600 feet, apart, so that the great 
number of gates in Jerusalem must not lead us to infer that the city 
had therefore a large circuit. Jerusalem, before the extension of it 
by Agrippa, appears to have had twelve gates (the number of the 
tribes of Israel, and after which they may have been named) ; and, 
unless the intervals between the other gates were much greater than 
that between the Corner gate and the Gate of Ephraim, the ambit 
of Jerusalem must have been small indeed. The twelve gates were : 
1. Benjamin's gate, now Bab Hotta; 2. Fish gate, at or near the 
Arch of Ecce Homo; 3. Old gate, in Asmonean Valley; 4. Corner 
gate, at north-west corner; 5. Gate of Ephraim, in the western 
wall'; 6. Valley gate (Jaffa); 7. Dung gate, at south-west corner; 
8. Potter's gate, on the south, opposite the Potter's field; 9. Fountain 
gate, leading down to Siloam from Pseudo-Sion; 10. Gate in Tyro- 
poson Valley, "between the two walls" (Jer. xxxix. 4. 2 Kings 
xxv. 4); 11. Horse gate ; 12. Miphkad, or Golden gate. 

3 2 Chron. xxvi. 9. 



TIME OF THE KINGS. 



3T 



gate was, as we have seen, at the north-west corner of 
the city ; and, as the " turning of the wall " in Hebrew 
may mean either a projecting or reentering angle, we 
may suppose that Uzziah now strengthened the city by 
erecting towers at the three angles, viz. first at the 
Valley, or Jaffa gate ; secondly, at the north-west cor- 
ner, or the Corner gate ; and thirdly, at the turning of 
the wall, at the north-east corner, by the Fish gate. 
But if by u the turning of the wall " be understood a re- 
entering angle, the third tower must be placed at the 
point where the second wall started northward from the 
north wall of Pseudo-Sion. 

After Uzziah followed his son Jotham, of whom it is 
said that " on the wall of Ophel he built much." 1 
Ophel had been fortified by David and Solomon, and 
now again Jotham gave it additional strength. The 
royal palace stood there, and the royal safety was first 
to be secured. 

Jotham was succeeded by his son Ahaz, who was 
threatened by the allied forces of Eezin, king of Syria, 
and Pekah, king of Israel, " and it was told the house 
of David, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And 
his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as 
the trees of the wood are moved with, the wind." 2 As 
the army of the two potentates approached Jerusalem, 
Ahaz personally went out of the gates to reconnoitre, 
when the word of the Lord came to Isaiah in the Temple : 
" Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub 
thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in 
the highway of the f idler's field ; and say unto him, 
Take heed, and be quiet ; fear not, neither be faint- 
hearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands," 3 



2 Cliron. xxvii. 8. 



2 Is. vii. 2. 

D 3 



3 Is. vii* 3, 



88 



TIME OF THE KINGS, 



&c. The upper pool here spoken of was that also 
called the Dragon Pool, or as Josephus renders the 
Hebrew word (signifying either dragon or serpent 1 ), the 
Serpent Pool 2 , now Birket Mamilk. It stands to the 
north-west of the Jaffa gate, at the head of the Valley 
of Hinnom. Lower down in the same valley, about 
half-way between the Jaffa gate and the south-west 
corner of the city, is another ancient pool, called Birket 
Sultan. Prom the Dragon, or Serpent, Pool the water 
was conveyed by a conduit to the Yalley gate, now the 
Jaffa gate, and so supplied the fountain mentioned in 
Nehemiah as the dragon fountain 3 (mistranslated the 
dragon well).* The Valley gate opened upon three 
roads : one south-west to Bethlehem, another west to 
Bethshemesh, and a third north-west to Jaffa. The last 
was called the Highway of the Puller's field, as it 
skirted the field which lay between it and the western 
limb of the second well. The Puller's field gave rise 
to the gate afterwards known as Porta Villas Pullonis, 
situate at the north-west corner of the city as enlarged 
by Agrippa 5 , and has no reference to the Puller's monu- 
ment at the north-east corner of the city. 6 The Puller's 
field on the north-west was the highest ground in the 
neighbourhood of the walls, and was almost invariably 
occupied by an invading enemy. Here encamped the 
Assyrians, whence it was afterwards called the Assyrian 
Camp ; and here in later times Cestius, and afterwards 
Titus ; and here also Tancred, in the days of the Cru- 
saders. The directions to Isaiah were therefore very 

1 draco, serpens magnus, serpens quivis." — Simon's Hebr. 
Lex. 

2 Bell. v. 3, 2. 3 fm 4 Neh. ii. 13, 
s ToHer, Top. i. 161, 166. Eobins. i. 321. 

e Bell. v. 4, 2. 



HEZEKIAH. 



39 



4 



precise, viz. that the prophet should find Ahaz at the 
end of the conduit from the Dragon Pool, on the road to 
Jaffa by the Fullers field. 

Ahaz was succeeded by his son Hezekiah, whose 
reign forms an important epoch in the history of Jeru- 
salem. The works of Hezekiah were all of a defensive 
character, and prompted by the hourly expected inva- 
sion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. They were : — 
1. " The stopping of all the fountains and the brooks that 
ran through the midst of the land." 1 2. " He also 
stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought 
it straight down to the west side of the city of David." 2 

3. "He gathered together the waters of the lower 
pool ;" 3 or, as it is expressed elsewhere, " He made a 
pool and a conduit, and brought water into the city." 

4. " He made a ditch [or reservoir] between the two 
wails for the water of the old pool." 5 5. "He built 
up the wall that was broken down, and raised it up 
to the towers, and another wall without," 6 and "re- 
paired the breaches of the city of David," 7 and " Millo 
in the city of David." 8 

1. Of the stopping of the Fountains and Brook. 

For this purpose " there was gathered much people 
together," 9 so that evidently the operation was one of 
great magnitude, and extended to some distance from 
Jerusalem. The account of Aristeas is that the en- 
virons of Jerusalem were underlaid with pipes for the 
distance of five furlongs from the city. 10 However this 
may be, it is probable that before the diversion by 

1 2 Chron. xxxii. 4. 2 2 Chron. xxxii. 30. 

3 Is. xxii. 9. 4 2 Kings xx. 20. 

5 Is. xxii. 11. 6 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. 

7 Isa. xxxii. 9. 8 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. 

9 2 Chron. xxxii. 4. 10 Barclay, 297. 

D 4 



40 



HEZEKIAH. 



Hezekiali there was a permanent running stream along 
the Valley of Jehoshaphat, whence the name of " the 
Brook ; " and the mysterious way in which water is 
supplied to En-rogel, the well at the junction of the 
three valleys of Jehoshaphat, Tyropoeon, and Hinnom, 
may be referred to the same agency, 

2. " Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of 
Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of 
the city of David." 1 

We have seen that Gihon was the Valley of J ehosha- 
phat, and we have therefore to look in it for the upper 
and lower watercourse of Gihon. In all Jerusalem, and 
the immediate vicinity, the only living waters are the 
intermittent spring and well, which we shall refer to 
presently, at the north-east bend of the Valley of Jeho- 
shaphat ; a well in Jerusalem itself, called Hammam 
es Shefa, 125A- feet to the west of the Haram, nearly 
opposite the Mosque of Omar 2 ; the Fountain of the 
Virgin, diverted to Siloam ; and the well of En-rogel at 
the junction of the valleys Jehoshaphat, Tyropoeon, and 
Hinnom. As Hezekiah brought the upper watercourse 
of Gihon to the west side of the city of David, i. e. of 
Sion, the eastern hill ; and the Fountain of the Virgin 
has been conveyed by an artificial channel in a westerly 
direction to Siloam ; it might be supposed, at first sight, 
that En-rogel, though strictly a well, was the lower 
watercourse of Gihon, and that the Fountain of the 
Virgin was the upper watercourse, and diverted by 
Hezekiah to Siloam. However, this hypothesis cannot 
be sustained, for Isaiah, in the time of Ahaz the prede- 
cessor of Hezekiah, speaks of the people as even then 
44 refusing the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and re- 



1 2 Chron. xxxii. 30. 



2 Barclay, 528. 



HEZEKIAH, 



41 



joicing in Bezin and Kemaliah's son." 1 Not only so, 
but Isaiah, alluding to the military preparations of 
Hezekiah against the Chaldeans, writes : "Ye made 
also a ditch [or reservoir] between the two walls for the 
water of the old pool : but ye have not looked unto 
the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that 
fashioned it long ago" 2 And there can be no doubt 
that the reservoir here referred to was that constructed 
by Hezekiah between the two walls of Ophel and the 
High Town, to receive the waters of Siloam. And if so, 
the Pool of Siloam, here described as the old pool, 
could not have been formed for the first time by Hezekiah 
himself. Indeed, as the prophet appears to reproach 
Hezekiah for being solely occupied in warlike defences, 
instead of taking the pious David, the founder of the 
dynasty, for his example, we may infer that the person 
referred to as the maker of the conduit from the Foun- 
tain of the Virgin was David himself. The Upper Gihon 
was, therefore, not the Fountain of the Virgin ; and if 
so, we may safely assume it to have been the Lower 
Gihon, and then the Upper watercourse must be looked 
for further north. As the spring itself was stopped or 
sealed by Hezekiah, we can scarcely expect to find the 
fountain-head ; but as Hezekiah brought it down west- 
wards into the city of David 3 , we should rather search 
for the outflow in Jerusalem itself, and the well of liv- 
ing water in the city at Hammam es Shefa answers 
to the description. 4 This well, 82^ feet deep, has long 
been, and still is, a subject of mystery. It was first 
explored in 1842 by Dr. Wolcott, and was found to be 
sunk through the rock, and at the bottom was a vaulted 
channel traced to the distance of 80 feet ; but he had 

1 Is. viii. 6. 2 Is. xxii. 11. 3 2 Chron. xxii. 30. 

4 See plan of this excavation in Barclay, 534. 



42 



HEZEKIAH. 



injured his compass in the descent, and could not ascer- 
tain the direction of the duct. In 1846 it was again 
explored by Dr. Tobler, who determined the direction 
of the excavation to be southward, and followed it 
somewhat further than his predecessor, and until he 
arrived at a circular basin about 100 feet to the south 
of the well mouth, where the channel became impass- 
able. It has since been visited by Dr. Barclay, but who 
has not penetrated beyond the circular basin. The 
local information states that the underground passage 
runs considerably beyond the basin, perhaps for another 
100 feet. Water in great quantities is raised from this 
well, particularly on Friday, the Turkish sabbath, and 
yet the supply is never exhausted. The water is clear 
and free from the impurities of rainwater, and resembles 
in taste the Fountain of Siloam. 1 Whence then comes 
this inscrutable and never-ceasing supply ? Some, as 
Williams, think it is conveyed thither from the north. 
But Eobinson observes that there is no trace to be found 
there of any living water % nor is it very likely that a 
spring should ever have been found on the high ground 
on the north of Jerusalem, when the deep Valley of 
Jehoshaphat was close at hand to drain it off. Can it 
then now from the west ? But neither on this side is 
there any living water at the present day. The Pools 
of Mamilla and Hezekiah are both feci by surface water 
only, and have no spring 3 ; nor, if the Hammam es Shefa 
be the upper watercourse of Hezekiah, could it possibly 
have come from the west, as it is expressly said that 
Hezekiah brought it westwards and not eastwards into 
the city of David. Neither can it come from the south, 



1 Barclay, 528. 

3 Tobl. Topogr. ii. 61. Thrupp, 92. 



2 Rob. iii. 244. 



HEZEKIAH. 



43 



where is the Valley of the Tyropoeon, for then it would 
have been in the city already without any artificial di- 
version, and in that case it would not have answered 
the purpose of Hezekiah to change its course ; for his 
object was, when hi fear of invasion, to withdraw the 
water from the enemy, and make it available within the 
city. The only quarter, therefore, from which the 
supply could come was from the east ; and in the Valley 
of Jehoshaphat, — the natural drain of the surrounding 
heights, — was no doubt originally to be seen the upper 
watercourse of Grihon. Here on the south is the well 
of En-rogel, and here, higher up, is the Fountain of the 
Virgin, and higher up still was once the Upper Gihon. 

The great depth of the well of the Hammam, 82^ 
feet, may enable us to draw some further inferences. 
Had the water come from the north or west, why un- 
necessarily make so deep an excavation through the 
hard rock ? But if it was brought from the Valley of 
Jehoshaphat, the depth of the weU would depend on the 
level of the spring-head in the adjoining valley. Just 
opposite the Hammam es Shefa, the Valley of Jehosha- 
phat is about 130 feet below the level of the well 
mouth 1 , and as the natural spring would issue, not from 
the side of the hill, but at the bottom of it, the water in 
question must have been obtained higher up the Valley 
of Jehoshaphat, where the depth was only 82^ feet. 
At the north of the valley, where it is shallow, there 
does in fact at the present day, in winter, issue forth a 
spring which runs for several weeks together, and for 
some distance along the valley before it becomes ab- 
sorbed. 2 We may suppose, therefore, that Hezekiah 
diverted this spring, by carrying it down the valley until 

1 Bob. i. 284. 

2 Barclay, 512 ; and >see Toiler's Drit. Wand. 214. 



44 



HEZEKIAH. 



it reached the part opposite the Temple, where it was 
brought westwards into, or " to the west side of, the 
city of David," viz. to the Hammam es Shefa. During 
the summer months the constant supply for the baths 
exhausts the water, but in winter the conduit is insuffi- 
cient, and the spring breaks out into the valley. The 
fountain-head to which we have alluded is about half a 
mile from the city 1 ; and curiously enough, Aristeas, in 
his famous letter (which, whether spurious or not, was 
written before the Christian era), maintains that he was 
led more than four stades (half a mile) from Jerusalem, 
when, on placing his ear to the ground, he could hear 
the rush of water. 2 May he not have been conducted 
to the fountain stopped or sealed by Hezekiah ? It 
may be said, if the Hammam es Shefa be connected with 
the upper watercourse of Gihon, why did not Hezekiah 
make an outlet to carry off the surplus waters in the city 
itself? To this objection we answer, that in exploring 
the conduit from the Fountain of the Virgin to Siloam 
Dr. Barclay discovered, about 49 feet from the foun- 
tain, a duct or channel coming down from the north- 
west, and he traced it as far as the Dung gate, when 
his progress was arrested by obstructions ; but the 
channel then seemed to bend westward. 3 As it is not 
likely that any but spring water would be conveyed 
into the main channel of the Fountain of the Virgin to 
Siloam, it is not unreasonable to suppose that this 
supplemental conduit, striking in from the north, is the 
termination of the subterranean cutting at the Hammam 
es Shefa, and still serves to convey the surplus water 
not required for the baths into the Pool of Siloam. 
3. " He gathered together the waters of the Lower 

i Barclay, 512. . 2 Barclay, 297. 3 Barclay, 309, 518. 



HEZEKIAH. 



45 



Pool ;" 1 or, as we read in another place, " He made 
a pool and a conduit, and brought water into the 
city. J 

We have seen that in the reign of Ahaz there was 
an Upper Pool, which implies a Lower Pool ; and here 
again Hezekiah is said to have constructed a Lower 
Pool. We must, therefore, look for an Upper Pool, 
with reference to which two other pools might re- 
spectively be called Lower, and such is precisely the 
case with the Pool Mamilla, the highest about Jerusa- 
lem. Li the time of Ahaz the Lower Pool was the 
Birket Sultan in the same Valley of Hinnom without 
the city, on the west of the High Town. And Hezekiah 
now formed another pool for the use of the population 
without the High Town, on the north of it. In the 
time of Josephus it was called the Amygdalon, or Al- 
mond Pool, and at present the Pool of Hezekiah. 3 
Tradition for once is in the right. The water is still 
conveyed to it from the Upper Pool, the Dragon or 
Serpent Pool, now Mamilla, by a conduit which runs 
to the Valley or Jaffa gate, where anciently was 
the Dragon Fountain, and thence to the south-west 
corner of the Pool of Hezekiah. It will be observed 
that Hezekiah made a pool and a conduit, and the pool 
and conduit may have been either one work or two 
distinct works ; and I should rather imagine that two 
distinct works are referred to ; and that while Heze- 
kiah formed the Lower Pool for the population settled 
to the north of the High Town, he also conducted the 
water from Mamilla by a conduit into the northern 
quarter of the High Town itself ; at least, on laying the 

1 Is. xxii. 9. 2 2 Kings xx. 20. 

3 See view of it, Bartlett's Jems. 89. Barclay, 537. Tobl. 
Denkblatter, at end. 



46 



HEZEKIAH. 



foundations of the English church near the spot where 
the towers of Mariamne must have stood in the High 
Town, an aqueduct was discovered at the depth of 
twenty-three feet, running east and west, and traceable 
upwards of two hundred feet towards the east, and as 
far as the city wall on the west. It was built with 
cement, and very nearly level, so that the water would 
stand in it for its whole length, and at intervals were 
apertures above for drawing up the water with a line 
and bucket. 1 The aqueduct is now dry. It was pro- 
bably supplied artificially, like the Pool of Hezekiah, 
by a conduit from the Upper Pool. This is confirmed 
by a passage in Josephus, where he speaks of a gate at 
the north-west corner of the High Town, by which the 
water was conveyed into Hippicus, the principal tower 
of the citadel. 2 It was in this aqueduct that Ananias, 
the proud high-priest who commanded Paul to be 
smitten on the mouth, hid himself in the Jewish re- 
bellion, and was dragged forth and butchered, thus 
fulfilling the Apostle's prophecy, " God shall smite 
thee, thou whited wall." 3 

4. He "made also a ditch between the two walls 
for the water of the old pool." 4 

Here we stand on more certain ground. The word 
rendered ditch signifies in Hebrew a reservoir 5 , and the 
meaning is this. Hezekiah was expecting the inva- 
sion of Sennacherib, and when Jerusalem was besieged 
the stream of Siloam would flow beyond the walls of 

1 Bartlett's Jems. 82. Tobler's Dritte Wand. 231. 

2 jue'xpi 7rv\rjc icaff fjv to vdojp ettl tov 'Ittttiicov nvpyov elarjKTO. — 
Bell. v. 7, 3. 

3 6 'Apxizpevg 'Avaviag Trept tov rrjg fiafftXiicfjQ avXfjg evpnrov dia- 
Xavdavwv aXtWercu. — Bell. ii. 17, 9. 

4 u nW receptaculum aqua?." — Simon's Heb. Lex. 

5 Is. xxii. 11. 



HEZEKIAH. 



47 



tlie city for the benefit of the enemy. Hezekiah, 
therefore, to preserve the surplus water of Siloam for 
his own people, constructed a reservoir within the 
mouth of the Tyropoeon " between the two walls," viz. 
the wall of Ophel on the east, and the wall of the High 
Town on the west. The valley in this part is very 
narrow, and the pool, therefore, could easily be con- 
structed by carrying a dam across the ravine on the 
south. The remains of the pool, and particularly of 
the dam at the southern end, are still traceable 1 ; and 
the foundations of the southern boundary are com- 
posed of large stones, carrying the appearance of great 
antiquity. 2 The pool is 130 feet long, and about 
equally broad, somewhat curved at the northern end, 
which approaches within a few paces of the old pool, 
or Siloam 3 , which itself is about 100 yards from the 
southern end of the eastern ridge, commonly called 
Ophel. 4 The pool thus formed by Hezekiah was after- 
wards known as the " King's Pool," from King Heze- 
kiah who constructed it. 

5. " He built up the wall that was broken down, 
and another wall without." 5 

The 400 cubits of the western limb of the second 
wall broken down by Jehoash, king of Israel, had 
been restored by Uzziah, and now Hezekiah gave 
the second wall additional strength by raising the 
height of it up to the towers. Not only so, but he 
also " built another wall without." The second wall 
up to this time had started from the north wall of 
the High Town, about half-way along it between the 
Jaffa gate and the Temple. The western hmb of 



1 See site of the pool beyond that of Siloam, Barclay, 525. 

2 Schultz, 40. 3 Barclay, 313. 

4 Barclay, 524. 5 2 Chron. xxxii. 5, 



48 



HEZEKIAH. 



the second wall, from its long reach and from the* 
nature of the ground to the west, was a weak and 
assailable part, and Hezekiah now doubled the line of 
defence, by making an elbow, or " another wall with- 
out," commencing from the gate Gennath, near the 
north-west corner of the High Town, and running 
thence along the west side of the new Pool of Heze- 
kiah, and then along its north side until it effected a 
junction with the second wall at the Gate of Ephraim. 
When the walls were repaired by Neheiniah this outer 
wall of Hezekiah was rebuilt, and formed part of the 
second wall, and so continued until the destruction of 
the city by Titus. Not long since, in repairing the 
Coptic convent at the north of the Pool of Hezekiah, 
the remains of the wall or the one substituted for it were 
discovered. The stones were large, hewn, and bevelled ; 
and the south side of the wall was plastered with ce- 
ment, as if it had at one time formed also the northern 
wall of the pool. This would probably be the case, 
as both the pool and the wall were the work of Heze- 
kiah. Had the wall been constructed for the pool 
only, a thickness of three or four feet would have 
sufficed. 1 But the breadth of this wall was ten. or 
twelve feet, and (assuming it to be twelve feet) was of 
the same breadth as the wall of the Temple. 2 This 
measure probably exceeded the average thickness of 
the second wall, and therefore gave rise to the name, 
by which it is called in Nehemiah, of the Broad Wall. 3 
After having fortified the least protected part of 
the city on the north-west, Hezekiah " repaired the 
breaches of the city of David," 4 or, as it is elsewhere 

i See Biblic. Diet., art. Jerus. 1028. 2 Bell. vi. 5, 1. 

3 Neli. iii. 8. The thickness of the present walls of Jerusalem 
is only from three to four feet. Tobl. Top. i. 62. 

4 Is. xxxii. 9. 



HEZEKIAH. 



49 



expressed, he " repaired Millo, the city of David ;" 1 not 
as it is translated in the Authorised Version, " Millo, in 
the city of David," but " Millo, the city of David ;" for 
Millo was the Temple platform, the acropolis of the 
city ; and as the castle taken by David had stood there, 
it came to be called the city of David. 2 In after times, 
indeed, the designation, " the city of David," spread 
itself over the whole eastern hill down to Siloam, but 
originally it denoted exclusively the acropolis. 

Such were the preparations made by Hezekiah in 
anticipation of the Assyrian invasion. Soon afterwards 
Sennacherib was in Palestine, and city after city fell 
before his arms. While he was besieging Lachish, he 
sent Eabshakeh with a strong force against Jerusalem, 
as an easy prey. Eabshakeh pitched his camp at the 
north-west of the city, as Hezekiah had expected, and 
where Hezekiah had recently fortified it by building 
" another wall without." The site of this camp on the 
high ground at the north-west was ever afterwards 
known as the " Camp of the Assyrians." Many, if not 
most, place the camp at the north-east of the city, but 
this cannot be maintained, for, in the siege by Titus, 
the Eoman camp, which was on the site of the 
Assyrian camp, is said to have extended thence to the 
Valley of Jehoshaphat, a remark quite out of place, 
had the camp been at the north-east of the city, and, 
therefore, on the brink of the valley 3 : and again, the 
Jews sallied from the High Town by the Pool of Heze- 
kiah, called then the Almond Pool, and, therefore, at 
the north-west of the High Town, and pursued the 
Eomans as far as their camp, the " Camp of the As- 
syrians," 4 which, therefore, lay on the north-west : and 

1 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. 2 1 Chron. xi. 7. 2 Sam. v. 7. 

3 BeU. v. 7, 3. 4 Bell. v. 11, 5 ; v. 7, 3. 

E 



50 



HEZEKIAH. 



again, the circumvallation of Titus was commenced at 
the Camp of the Assyrians, and carried thence across 
the Lower Ceenopolis, or New Town, i. e. the eastern 
ridge, to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and, after encom- 
passing the east and south, ended by running along 
the western side of the city, round the monument of 
Herod, at the Serpent, or Dragon, Pool, now the Ma- 
milla, where it again joined the Camp of the Assy- 
rians 1 ; and it is evident from this description that the 
Camp of the Assyrians lay between the second and 
third walls, at the north-west corner of the city. It 
probably stood in the upper part of the tract known as 
the Fuller's field. 2 

Eabshakeh, seeing the strength of the city, made no 
assault upon it, but summoned Hezekiah to a confe- 
rence. As Sennacherib was not present in person, 
Hezekiah, consulting his own dignity, declined also 
to appear personally, and deputed his chief officers, 
Eliakim the minister of state, and Shebna the secre- 
tary, and Joah the recorder, to represent him. Eab- 
shakeh " stood by the conduit of the upper pool, in 
the highway of the fuller's field," 3 and, therefore, by 
the Valley, or Jaffa, gate, where was the Dragon Foun- 
tain, fed by the conduit from the Upper, or Dragon, 
Pool, now the Mamilla. Eliakim and his company 
were posted on the wall adjoining, which was thronged 
by the people of the city. The Assyrian began in the 
Jews' language, and endeavoured by bravado and 
threats to terrify the besieged into a surrender of the 
citv : " Thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed 
of Egypt, whereon if a man lean it shall go into his 
hand. , . . But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord 

1 Bell. v. 12, 2. 2 See ante, p. 38. 3 Is. xxxvi. 2. 



HEZEKIAH. 



51 



our God . . . where are the Gods of Hamath and Ar- 
phad ? where are the gods of Sepharvaini ? and have 
they delivered Samaria out of my hand ? " 1 Ehakim, 
Shebna, and Joah were afraid of the effect of this in- 
timidation upon the bystanders, and said : " Speak, I 
pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language, for 
we understand it, and speak not in the Jews' language 
in the ears of the people that are on the wall." 2 But 
Eabshakeh upon this raised his voice still higher in the 
Jew's language, and repeated his insolence; but Ehakim 
broke off the conference, and " the people answered 
him not a word, for the king's commandment was, say- 
ing, Answer him not." 3 The result was reported to 
Hezekiah, who appealed to the prophet Isaiah for ad- 
vice, when Isaiah was directed to carry to Hezekiah 
this message : " Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of 
the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants 
of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold I 
will send a blast upon him [Sennacherib], and he shall 
hear a rumour, and return to his own land, and I will 
cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." 4 
Eabshakeh, unable to assault Jerusalem, returned to his 
master then at Libnah, and shortly after the blast of the 
Lord, recorded in Scripture, and referred to, but less 
distinctly, by Herodotus, fell upon Sennacherib : " And 
the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the 
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and 
five thousand : and when they arose in the morning, 
behold they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib, 
king of Assyria, departed and returned to Mneveh," 5 
and was slain " in the house of Msroch his god." 6 
Hezekiah was succeeded by his son Manasseh, of 

1 Is. xxxvi. 6, 19. 2 Is. xxxvi. 11. , 3 Is. xxxvi. 21. 

4 Is. xxxvii. 7. 5 Is. xxxvii. 37. 6 Is. xxxvii. 38. 

e 2 



52 



MANASSEH. 



whom it is said that " he built a wall without the city of 
David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even 
unto the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and 
raised it up a very great height." 1 It is evident, there- 
fore, that as the Gihon Valley wall, and the defences of 
Ophel, are contrasted, the Gihon Valley wall was distinct 
from any wall of Ophel. What the Gihon Valley wall 
really was has been much disputed, but it was probably 
this. Hezekiah had fortified the north-west of the city 
by raising the walls and building an outer wall ; and 
Manasseh now strengthened the north-east of the city 
by running a new wall across the hill of Gareb. The 
old wall started from the north-west corner of Millo, 
or the Haram, and went in a curve northward to 
the Fish gate, and then westward to the Corner gate, 
where it bent southward to the first wall. Manasseh 
now " built a wall without the city of David [Millo, or 
the Temple platform], on the west side of Gihon [the 
Valley of Jehoshaphat], in [or along the brink of] the 
valley [northward]," and then westward across the 
high ground, "even unto the fish gate." In other 
words, the quarter at the north of the Temple offered 
the greatest facilities for an assault, and Manasseh now 
strengthened it by drawing a second wall from the 
north-east corner of the Haram along the edge of the 
valley northward, and then due east to the Fish gate in 
the second wall. This outer wall appears not to have 
been restored by Nehemiah, as we find Herod, before he 
was in possession of the second wall, assaulting the 
Temple inclosure on the north ; and Titus also hoped, 
by taking the first wall, and before mastering the second, 
to make an attack upon Antonia from the north. The 



1 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. 



MANASSEH. 



53 



remains of an old wall are still to be seen, running east 
and west, at the north of the Hararn, a little above 
the street leading to St. Stephen's gate ; and these may 
possibly mark the course of the wall of Manasseh. The 
stones are large and bevelled, and are certainly of great 
antiquity, and are situate just in the hue which we 
should assign to the Gihon Valley wall. 1 

As to the Fish gate, at which the Gihon Valley wall 
terminated, the prophet Zephaniah, foreseeing in the 
days of Josiah that Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, 
should come up against Jerusalem and assault it on the 
north, lifts the veil of futurity thus : " It shall come to 
pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be 
the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling 
from the second, and a great crashing from the hills." 2 
As the host of an invading enemy invariably advanced 
against Jerusalem along the heights on the north, and 
as 64 the great crashing from the hills " must be re- 
ferred to the shouts of the tumultuous host sweeping 
all before it in that quarter, we are prepared to find the 
Fish gate at the north of the city. Accordingly the 
Fish gate, as we shall see when we come to discuss the 
gates of Nehemiah, stood at the north-east of the city, 
and is the first gate mentioned by Nehemiah in the 
progress of the wall northward from the Temple. It 
probably, therefore, passed by the name of the " first 
gate," as hi the following passage from the prophet 
Zechariah: "From Benjamin's gate [in the Temple 
plateau] unto the place of the first gate unto the corner 
gate," 3 where the prophet apparently refers to the 
breadth of Jerusalem above the Temple, viz. from the 
first gate, or Fish gate, at the north-east angle, to the 



1 Tobl. Top. i. 635. 2 Zeph. i. 10. 3 Zech. xiv. 10, 

B 3 



54 



MANASSEH. 



Corner gate at the north-west angle. The " second " 
gate referred to by Zephaniah would, therefore, be the 
one next the Fish gate on the west, otherwise called 
the " old gate," or the " middle gate," as lying between 
the Fish gate and the Corner gate. 

During the reign of Manasseh, the Temple of God 
was converted into a temple of idols, for a " grove was 
planted there, and altars erected to Baal and all the 
host of heaven ;" and, as if Manasseh could not insult 
the God of his fathers sufficiently in his lifetime, he 
built himself a tomb, not in the sepulchres of the kings 
of Judah, but in immediate proximity to, or under the 
very area of, the holy Temple ; for "they buried him in 
his own house," 1 or palace ; or, as it is more definitely 
recorded in another place, " in the garden of his own 
house, in the garden of Uzzah." 2 As the palace stood 
at the south of the Temple, the garden of Uzzah was 
contiguous to the Temple wall ; and it is not unlikely 
that the sepulchre was hewn out of the very rock on 
which the Temple was built, and therefore under its 
foundations. His son and successor, Anion, practised 
the same idolatrous abominations and whoredom, and 
was also " buried in his sepulchre in the garden of 
Uzzah ;" 3 and it is to these idolatrous defilements, and 
to the pollution of the sanctuary by the carcases of these 
two kings, that the prophet Ezekiel so indignantly al- 
ludes : " My holy name shall the house of Israel no more 
defile, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredoms, 
nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places ; 
in their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and 
their post by my posts, and the wall between me and 
them. They have defiled my holy name by their abomi- 

1 2 Chron. xxxiii. 20. 2 2 Kings xxxi. 18. 3 2 Kings xxi. 26. 



ZEDEKIAH. 



55 



nations that they have committed: wherefore I have 
consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away 
their whoredom, and the carcases -of their kings, far 
from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for 
ever." 1 

From Amon, we pass on successively to Josiah, 
Jehoahaz, Jehoiachim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, the 
last of the kings of Judah. It is only of Zedekiah that 
we have anything to remark. As the fate of Jerusalem 
drew nigh, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, Nebuchad- 
nezzar, at the head of an irresistible army, pitched his 
camp, as all had done before him, against the northern 
quarter of the city. The capture appears to have been 
by a surprise at night upon the middle gate of the north 
wall. 2 And when the tumult of the invading host 
reached the ears of Zedekiah in the royal palace, at the 
south of the Temple, he and his body-guard " fled and 
went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the 
king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls, and 
he went out the way of the plain [of Jericho]." 3 As 
Nebuchadnezzar entered on the north, Zedekiah es- 
caped to the south along the Tyropoeon Valley, between 
the wall of Ophel on his left, and of Pseudo-Sion, or 
the High Town, on his right. However, the unhappy 
prince was overtaken, and his eyes put out, and r t so 
he was carried to Babylon ; thus fulfilling the famous 
prophecy of Ezekiel, that " he should not see Babylon, 
though he should die there." 4 

Thus ended the Jewish monarchy, and the demolition 
of Jerusalem itself followed fast upon it. " The house 
of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of 
Jerusalem, and every great man's house," and the gates 

i Ezek. xliii. 7. 2 Jer. xxxix. 3. 

3 Jerem. xxxix. 4. 2 Kings xxv. 4. 4 Ezek. xii. 13. 

e 4 



56 



ZEDEKIAH. 



of the city, were burnt with fire 1 ; and the walls of 
Jerusalem were thrown to the ground. No language 
can express the utter desolation of Jerusalem so forcibly 
as the prophetic words of Scripture, 44 1 will wipe Jeru- 
salem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it 
upside down." 2 



1 2 Kings xxv. 9. Neh. i. 3 ; ii. 3. 



2 2 Kings xxi. 13. 



57 



chap. n. 

THE WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 

The decree of Cyrus, at the close of the captivity, 
extended only to the rebuilding of the Temple. " Thus 
saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of hea- 
ven . . . hath charged me to build him an house at 
Jerusalem." 1 And under this decree Jeshua and 
Zerubbabel " builded the altar of the God of Israel. 
. . . . But the foundation of the Temple of the 
Lord was not yet laid." 2 Afterwards they " laid the 
foundation of the Temple of the Lord," 3 including, 
apparently, the outer wall, for their enemies made a 
representation to the king of Persia that the Jews were 
rebuilding the walls of their city : " The Jews which 
came up from thee to us are . . . building the 
rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls 
thereof, and joined the foundations." 4 And as the wall 
of the Temple, which was about twelve feet thick, gave 
a colour to the charge, a decree was issued by Arta- 
xerxes to prohibit the further prosecution of the work. 
" Then ceased the work of the house of God. which is 
at Jerusalem." 5 On the accession of Darius to the 
throne of Persia, J eshua and Zerubbabel recommenced 
the restoration of the Temple, including the wall of the 



1 Ezra i. 2, 3. 2 Ezra m 2 . 3 Ezra iii. 10. 

4 Ezra iv. 12. ; 5 Ezra iv. 24. 



58 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



Outer Temple, for they " began to build the house of 
God," 1 when their enemies again stepped forward, 
saying, " Who hath commanded you to build this house, 
and to make up this wall?" 2 And on a renewed com- 
plaint to the king of Persia, search was made for the 
decree of Cyrus, and when it was found, Darius permitted 
the Jews to proceed with the Temple ; " Let the gover- 
nor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this 
house of God in his place ;" 3 and thereupon the struc- 
ture and the outer walls thereof (the square of 600 feet) 
were completed : " They builded and finished it . . . 
on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the 
sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." 4 

Thus far the rebuilding extended to the Temple only, 
and not to the walls of the city. Ezra afterwards obtained 
a decree to restore the nationality of the Jews, viz. to 
" set magistrates and judges, which might judge all the 
people ;" 5 and afterwards Nehemiah, the cupbearer to 
the king, was enabled in a favourable moment to win 
from him express permission to rebuild the Baris, or 
Vestry, afterwards Antonia 6 , and also the city : " Send 
me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, 
that I may build it ;" 7 and a direction was given to the 
governors beyond the Euphrates to forward Nehemiah 
and his company to Jerusalem 8 ; and the king's forester 
was required to supply the necessary timber. 9 

Upon the strength of the royal mandate, JSTehemiah 
arrived safely in Jerusalem, and before communicating 

1 Ezra v. 2. 2 Ezra v. 3. 3 Ezra vi. 7. 

4 Ezra vi. 14, 15. 5 Ezra vii. 25. 

6 The Hebrew word HT21 Baris, or castle, has been translated in 
the English version: "the palace which appertained to the house." 
Neh. ii. 8. 

7 Neh. ii. 5. 8 Neh. ii. 7. 9 Neh. ii. 8. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



59 



his projects to any one, made a nocturnal survey of the 
state of the walls. He mounted a beast, and rode forth 
with a few companions : "I went out by night by the 
gate of the valley, even before the dragon well." 1 By 
the valley simply, without addition or qualification, is 
meant the Valley of Hinnom ; and, when reference is 
made to what is now called the Valley of Jehoshaphat on 
the east, the phraseology is " Keclroii," or " the brook," 
from the stream which, before the stopping of the foun- 
tains- by Hezekiah, flowed along it. The Valley gate 
was, therefore, that which stood at the north-west 
corner of the High Town, at the head of the Valley of 
Hinnom. What was the exact position of this gate it 
may be difficult to determine, as several gates in this 
quarter are mentioned in history. Thus, when the 
Eomans under Titus lay before J erusalem in the vicinity 
of the Jaffa gate, the Jews made a sally from Hippicus 
by a secret gate 2 ; and as Titus at this time had not 
mastered the wall which ran north from Hippicus, the 
situation of this postern must have been on the western 
side of the High Town, just south of Hippicus. How- 
ever, as this was a secret gate, it could scarcely have 
been the one referred to by Nehemiah. The Valley gate 
may with more probability be identified with that by 
which the Jews sallied when Titus had possessed himself 
of the third wall, viz. the gate by which water was con- 
veyed into Herod's palace, now the castle of David 3 ; 
and the circumstance of the water supply comir 
this gate agrees with the account of Nehemiah, 

1 Net. ii. 13. 

2 eicdiovfft Kara tov 'lirmieby irvpyov did 7rv\r)Q cupavovg. — Sell. v. 
6, 5. 

3 7r{»Xr/Cj /caO' fjv to vdiop e-irt tov ^ttttlkov 7rvpyov elarjKTO. — Bell. 




60 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



was before the Dragon fountain (mistranslated the 
Dragon well), which was opposite the Valley gate, and 
fed by a conduit from the Dragon, or Serpent, Pool 
mentioned by Josephus as situate in this part 1 , and 
now known as the Birket Mamilla. 

Nehemiah, after leaving the Valley gate, descended to 
the Dung gate 2 ; and Josephus also, in tracing the 
western wall of the High Town, writes that it ran from 
Hippicus to the gate of the Essenes at Bethso 3 , the 
Hebrew word for a dung place. 4 The Essene gate and 
the Dung gate would, therefore, appear to be identi- 
cal, and situate at the south-west corner of the High 
Town. 

Nehemiah then proceeded " to the gate of the fountain 
and to the king's pool." 5 The Gate of the Fountain 
was that which overlooked the Tyropoeon Valley, and 
led down from the High Town to the Fountain of 
Siloam ; and the King's Pool was that which King Heze- 
kiah had formed in the same valley, between the wall 
of the High Town on the west, and the wall of Ophel 
on the east. Here the heaps of debris, the ruins of the 
city, interrupted the further progress of the beast, and 
Nehemiah was obliged to dismount, and advanced on 
foot along the eastern side of the city " by the brook" 
Kedron, and then returned by the same route back again, 
" and entered by the gate of the valley." 6 

Having found his designs practicable, Nehemiah now 
called upon the Jews publicly, with heart and hand, to 
set to work upon the walls. Some of their enemies 
attempted to interfere, but the Jews, protected by the 

i Bell. v. 3, 2. t f Neli.*. 13 - 

3 lia U rov Brjdaw KaXovfxevov KaraTeivei em tov 'Eacrrjvwv 

icvkr\v. — Bell. v. 4, 2. 

4 riKi* rvn 5 Neli. ii. 14. 6 Neh. ii. 15. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



61 



royal fiat, proceeded vigorously to carry out the plans 
of their chief. We have in Nehemiah a verv curious 
detail of the way in which this great undertaking was 
distributed amongst the priests, Levites, Netliinim, Te- 
koites, and people generally ; and as the sacred penman 
assumes the localities to be known, and is only anxious 
to point out the merits of the respective workmen, we 
are at some little trouble to trace his progress round 
the city. In doing so we must keep in mind the follow- 
ing points as essential to a right understanding of a not 
very lucid description. 

1. The walls of the Temple had been already com- 
pleted by Jeshua and Zerubbabel, and therefore the 
walls of the city only now engaged the attention of 
Nehemiah. Accordingly, in the course of the work, 
no allusion is made either to the w^alls or gates of the 
Temple, and it is only when the whole circuit had been 
accomplished that a solemn thanksgiving is offered in 
the house of the Lord. 

2. As the Jews were narrowly watched by their 
enemies, and they every moment expected an assault, 
insomuch that " every one with one of his hands 
wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a 
weapon," 1 and a trumpet was to be blown from the 
quarter where succour w^as needed 2 , it is obvious that 
the great object in the first place was to throw up an 
outer wall as a protection against their foes, leaving 
any inner walls to a more convenient opportunity. 
Accordingly Nehemiah takes us from the Sheep gate 
round the whole ambit of the outer wall, until he 
arrives at the Sheep gate again. 

3. A line drawn from the Temple to the Valley, or 



1 -Neli. iv. 17. 



2 Nek iv. 20. 



62 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



Jaffa, gate would divide the city into two .nearly equal 
parts ; and Nehemiah appears, for the purpose of excit- 
ing emulation, to have distributed each body of persons 
into two classes, one to labour on the north and the 
other on the south. Thus we have the priests of the hill, 
or those who resided on the Temple platform, occupied 
upon one part ; and the priests, " the men of the plain," 
who inhabited Ophel,the lower area, upon another part. 1 
So the Nethinim of the hill, or those of Moriah, are dis- 
tinguished from the Nethinim below the Temple "*who 
dwelt in Ophel ; " 2 and so some of the Tekoites were 
engaged on the north of the Temple 3 , and the rest on 
the south. 4 And at the close of the work the whole 
people were distributed into two great companies, which 
marched along their own respective walls in opposite 
directions and met at the Temple, one at the northern 
and the other at the southern gate, i. e. one at the Prison 
gate and the other at the Water gate. 5 

We now proceed to trace the account in detail. 
The enterprise was commenced by the high-priest 
Eliashib, as the chief personage of the nation, with the 
priests, his brethren ; and he laid the first stone of what 
is called the Sheep gate. 6 As the work advanced in a 
northern direction we must look for the Sheep gate at 
the north of the Temple, and it would seem to be iden- 
tical with " the high gate of Benjamin, which was by 
the Lord's house," 7 and called the high gate or king's 
bench, because there the king of Judah sat in judgment. 8 
Attached to it was a prison, the same in which Jeremiah 
was incarcerated, for they "put him in the stocks that 



i Neli. iii. 22. 2 Neh. iii. 26. 3 Neh. in. 5. 

4 Neh> iiL 27 , * Neh. xii. W, 39. 

6 Neh. iii. 1. 7 Jer. xx. 2. 8 Jer. xxxvm. 7. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



63 



were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the 
house of the Lord." 1 The gate of Benjamin was at the 
north of the Temple, for it is alluded to by Ezekiel as 
" the high gate which lieth toward the north," 2 i. e. of 
the Temple, and was probably about the middle of the 
northern wall of the Temple platform, where the pre- 
sent gate Bab-es-Hotta stands, at the western end of the 
Pool of Bethesda. That Benjamin's gate was the most 
eastern gate in the north wall of the old city, we may 
collect from its being opposed by the prophet to the 
Corner gate at the north-west angle : " It [Jerusalem] 
shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Ben- 
jamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the 
corner gate." 3 Benjamin's gate was the principal, if 
not the only gate at the north of the Temple inclosure, 
and this may be the reason why the high-priest here 
commenced the great national undertaking. The space 
between the eastern end of the Pool of Bethesda and 
the eastern wall of the city is so narrow, that a gate of 
so much consequence as Benjamin's gate could scarcely 
have stood there. 4 The only other mention of the Sheep 
gate is in John v. 2, where it is placed by the Pool of 
Bethesda. There can be little doubt that the pool so 
called by St. John is identical with that which now 
bears the name, and, if so, the testimony of John as to 
the position of the Sheep gate agrees with that of 
Nehemiah. It is remarkable that to this day the Be- 
douins bring their sheep to market in this quarter of 
the city. 5 Ehashib and his brethren rebuilt the Sheep 

1 Jer. xx. 2. 2 Ezek- ix< 2 . 3 Z ech. xiv. 10. 

4 See a view of the little Turkish gate, Sobat, and of the road 
leading to it from the north at the eastern end of the Pool of 
Bethesda, in Traill's Josephus, ii. 134. 

5 KrafFt, 149. 



54 WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 

gate, which had therefore been destroyed by the Chal- 
deans, but the wall running westward from the Sheep 
gate to the Tower of Meeah, and beyond that to the 
Tower of Hananeel, appears to have been left standing 
by the Chaldeans, and was therefore only repaired. 

When Eliashib and his brethren had completed 
their portion they sanctified it, that is, they invoked 
the divine blessing upon their labours. The text 
runs thus : " Then Eliashib the high priest rose up 
with his brethren the priests, and they builded the 
sheep gate ; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of 
it ; even unto the tower of Meeah they sanctified it, 
unto the tower of Hananeel." 1 As the tower of Hana- 
neel was at the north-west corner of the Temple plat- 
form, and therefore on the site afterwards occupied by 
the Acra or Macedonian castle, Meeah must have stood 
between that and the Sheep gate, where now is the gate 
Bab-es-Sawatar or Dewatar. That the towers of Meeah 
and Hananeel were not far apart, and were in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the Temple, may be reasonably in- 
ferred from the fact that the portion of the wall between 
the Sheep gate and Meeah, and between Meeah and 
Hananeel, was committed to the care of the high-priest 

and his company. 

" Next unto him [Eliashib], built the men of Jericho : 
and next unto them builded Zaccur, the son of Imri. 
But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build." 2 

And a recent traveller tells us that up a vaulted passage leading on 
the east of Pilate's House to the Haram, on the right hand, is a 
large birket, or pool, in ruins, and that the gate of the Haram close 
by is called the Sheep gate. (Stewart, Tent and Khan, 274.) _ I he 
dance obtained was a furtive one, and the locality still remains to 
be explored. ... • 

i Neh. iii. 1. 2 Neh - m - 2 ' 3 - 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



These parts of the wall, therefore, had been demolished 
by the Chaldeans so as to require rebuilding. The Fish 
gate, from this description, was one of those in the wall 
running out from Hananeel, at the north-west corner of 
the Haram, in a north-western direction. Jerome most 
extraordinarily places the Fish gate on the site of the 
Jaffa gate, a position wholly at variance with every Scrip- 
ture statement, and manifestly erroneous. The only 
ground for the hypothesis must have been the conjecture 
that the Fish gate was so called from the fish brought 
from the coast, and was therefore the gate leading to 
Jaffa. More probably, however, the name originated 
from the fish brought from the sea of Galilee, where, as 
we know from the occupation of the apostles, extensive 
fisheries were then carried on. The fish-market may 
also have been supplied, as it was in a later age, from 
Tyre, and, if so, one of the northern gates by which the 
fish from this quarter would arrive might very naturally 
have received the name of the Fish gate. 

" And next unto them " three private persons re- 
paired ; " and next unto them the Tekoites repaired ; " 1 
so that the wall in this part had not been destroyed, 
but broken only. These Tekoites were one of the two 
divisions of that body, and we shall presently find the 
other employed in the south. 

" Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of 
Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah." 2 The 
Old gate was in the Mill Valley, the natural approach to 
the Temple. At the north of the city were three gates : 
the First gate, or Fish gate, on the east ; the Corner 
gate on the west ; and between them the Old gate, or 
Middle gate, the one by which Nebuchadnezzar entered : 



Neh. iii. 4, 5. 



F 



2 Neh. iii, 6. 



5g WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 

for " In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in 
the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, 
and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged 
it. And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth 
month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken 
up, and all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, 
and sat in the middle gate." 1 It was also, apparently, 
at the Middle gate that Titus made his attack upon the 
second wall, for it is expressly said that he applied the 
ram at " the middle tower." 2 

" And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, 
and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of 
Mizpah, unto the throne of the governor on this side the 
rivers 3 Both Gibeon and Mizpah were but a few 
miles to the north of Jerusalem, and their inhabitants 
would therefore be employed upon some part at the 
north of the city, and we should assign to them a por- 
tion of the wall running from the Old gate to the Corner 
gate, at the north-west angle of the city. We have 
seen that the Assyrian armies always advanced against 
Jerusalem from the north, and when Nebuchadnezzar 
took the city, the throne of his viceroy, or" the governor 
on this side the river [Euphrates]," would be situate in 
the northern quarter ; and, from the account of Nehe- 
miah, it stood in the vicinity of the Old gate. 

« Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, 
of the goldsmiths. s Next unto him also repaired Hana- 
niah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified 
Jerusalem unto the broad wall" 4 The wall in this 
part therefore required to be repaired only, and not re- 
built. We have now arrived at Hezekiah's wall, called 



1 Jer. xxxix. 1. 
3 Neh. iii. 7. 



2 jueVw nvpyt*. 
4 Neh. iii. 8. 



— Bell. v. 7, 4. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



67 



the Broad wall, which, starting from the Gate of Ephraim 
at about the middle of the western limb of the old 
second wall, and taking a westerly direction, bent round 
the Pool of Hezekiah southward, and so joined the first 
wall, or the wall of the High Town, near the Gate 
Genua th. As 400 cubits of the wall from the Gate of 
Ephraim to the Corner gate were broken down by 
Jehoash l , the Gate of Ephraim must have stood 600 
feet to the south of the Corner gate. 

" Next unto them repaired Eephaiah the son of Hur, 
the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem 2 ," and who, we 
may surmise, was ruler of the northern half. And next 
after him repaired successively four private persons, 
and one of them "over against his own house 3 ," which 
shows that occasionally the portions of the wall built or 
repaired were very small. Then "Malchijah the son of 
Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab repaired 
the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.'" 4 This 
tower was probably either at the projecting elbow of 
Hezekiah 's wall, or at the junction of Hezekiah's wall to 
the north wall of the High Town. 

Between this tower and the Jaffa gate would still re- ^ 
main a piece of wall, and it is said that " next unto liim 
repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the 
half part of J erusalem, he and his daughters." 5 And as 
this piece of wall belonged to the southern portion of 
Jerusalem, Shallum was probably ruler of the southern 
part, and resided in the castle on the site of the present 
Castle of David. This portion of the northern wall of . 
the High Town was the part afterwards made impreg- 
nable by the famous towers of Herod, Hippicus and 
Phasaelus. The third tower of Herod, Mariamne, pro- 

1 2 Kings xiv. 13. 2 Chron. xxv. 23. 2 Neh. iii. 9. 

3 Neh. iii. 9. * Neh. iii. 11. s Neh. iii. 12. 



68 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



bably stood, not exactly in the line of the northern wall 
of the High Town, but a little southward. 1 

We have now completed the northern half of the 
walls, and proceed to the southern. 

« The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants 
of Zanoah, .... and a thousand cubits unto the dung 
gate." 2 The Valley gate, as we have seen, stood on or 
near the site of the present Jaffa gate ; and the 1000 
cubits, or 1500 feet, take us to the south-western corner, 
or nearly so, of the High Town, where Nehemiah places 
the Dung gate. Josephus traces the same wall from Hip- 
picus to the Gate of the Essenes at Bethso 3 , or the dung 
place \ and the Essene gate and the Dung gate are there- 
fore identical. 

"The dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of 
Eechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem ; he built 
it, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, 
and the bars thereof. But the gate of the fountain 
repaired Shallum the son of Col-hozeh ; and the wall 
of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto 
the stairs that go clown from the city of David." 5 As 
Nehemiah makes no mention of the wall between the 
Dung gate and the Fountain gate, this part of the 
fortifications had probably not been demolished by the 
Chaldeans. The Fountain gate was that which led down 
from the High Town to the Valley of the Tyropceon, 
where was the Fountain par excellence, of Siloam ; and, 
if so, Nehemiah passes over the intervening Potter's 
gate, which stood on the south of the city, opposite the 
bed of clay 6 called, from the pottery there, the Potter's 
field, and afterwards Aceldama, or field of blood. 7 

i See post. 2 Neli. iii. IS. 3 Bell. v. 4. 

4 See ante, p. 60. 

5 Neh. iii. 14, 15. 6 Schultz, 39. 7 Rob. i. 239. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



69 



The Potter's gate is alluded to by Jeremiah : " Thus 
saith the Lord, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle 
. . . . and go forth unto the valley of the son of 
Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potter's gate l , 
and proclaim there the words I shall tell thee." 2 
And again : "Arise, and go down to the potter's 
house, and there I will cause thee to hear my 
words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, 
behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the 
vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of 
the potter ; so he made it again another vessel, as 
seemed good to the potter to make it." 3 The latter 
passage is that alluded to by St. Paul in the well-known 
text : " Hath not the potter power over the clay, of 
the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and 
another unto dishonour." 4 

It has been much disputed whether the wall of the 
city, on reaching the Tyropoeon Valley, made a crook, 
or bend, by running up the eastern side of the High 
Town, and then down the western side of Ophel to 
Siloam, or whether it crossed the mouth of the Tyro- 
poeon in a direct line from the High Town to Ophel. 
As the Jews under Nehemiah were building in the 
greatest haste to protect themselves from a hostile 
assault, momentarily expected, they may for the time 
have taken the short cut across the Tyropeon. But 
that the permanent wall of the city, from the earliest 
to the latest time, ran up the western side of Pseudo- 
Sion, and down the eastern side of Ophel, may be al- 
most demonstrated. Thus we have seen that Hezekiah, 
in order to preserve the waters of Siloam for the use of 

1 Translated in our version by a different reading, " the east 
gate," whereas it was at the south. See Thrupp, 128. 

2 Jer. xix. 2. 3 Jer. xviii. 2. 4 Eom. ix. 21. 

r 3 



70 



WALLS OF NEIIEMIAH. 



the city, " made a ditch [it should be rendered a pool] 
between the two walls for the water of the old pool ;" 1 
and when Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans took the 
city on the north at the « middle gate," the king, in his 
palace at the south of the Temple took fright, and 
" went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the 
king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls ;" 2 and 
the two walls in the above passages can only be ac- 
counted for on the supposition that the southern wall 
ran up the eastern side of the High Town, and then 
down the western side of Ophel. 

Josephus also tells us distinctly that the southern wall 
" made a bend over Siloam, and then again deflected, 
with its face to the east, to Solomon's Pool [now the 
Fountain of the Virgin], and then stretching up to a 
place called Ophla, joined the eastern cloister of the 
Temple." 3 And again, had the wail crossed the mouth 
of the Tyropoeon, Josephus could not have said, as he 
does, that on the south, where was only one wall, the 
city was defended by inaccessible ravines ; for the wall, 
had it crossed at the mouth, would have offered an 

assailable point. 4 

This bend over Siloam may be one of the sinuosities 
• of the wall alluded to by Tacitus : " The two hills, 
which w^ere of vast height, were shut in by walls artifi- 
cially tortuous, or forming bays inwards ;" 5 for the word 
bay exactly answers to the bend of the wall in this part, 
which was something in the form of a horseshoe. 

In the tract within this curve, which is still very fertile 6 , 

i is. X xii. 11. 2 Jer. xxxix. 4. 2 Kings xxv. 4 

s Bell. v. 4, 2. 4 Bell. v. 4, 2. 

5 " Nam duos colles immensum editos claudebant rnuri, per artem 
obliqui aut introrsus sinuati." — Tac. Hist. v. 11. 
e Tobl. Top. i. 25. 



"WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



71 



and reaching thence down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, 
were the king's gardens ; and rTeheiniah probably means 
the wall round the valley under the words. " the wall of 
the pool of Siloam, by the king's garden." The fountain 
itself was without the wall of Ophel, for in the siege by 
Titus, and before he was master of the walls, Josephus 
tells the Jews that the fountains which, before the 
arrival of Titus, had been dried up, flowed again at his 
coming, " both Siloam and all those without the city." 1 
But the fountain lay just beneath the wall 2 , and was 
commanded by it ; and the possession of it was, there- 
fore, of importance : and in the feud between Simon and 
John, when Jerusalem was invested by the Eomans, 
the fountain, that is, Siloam, was held by Simon. 3 
No doubt the wall of Ophel had been carried down to 
the very apex of Ophel, in order to protect the foun- 
tain ; and at this extreme point must have stood the 
tower of Siloam, which, in the time of our Lord, fell 
and slew eighteen persons. 4 The gradual undermining 
of the rock had probably loosened the foundations of 
the building. As Siloam lay under the southern point 
of Ophel, it marked the extent of the city in that direc- 
tion; whence Neapolitanus, who, on his mission from 
Cestius entered Jerusalem from the north, is said to have 
been conducted through it down to Siloam. 5 The ap- 
proach to the fountain was by the stairs mentioned by 
Nehemiah as " going down from the city of David," that 
is, from Ophel, as appears from a subsequent passage ; 
for, when the two companies of them that gave thanks at 

1 Tr\vre SiAwcui . . . /ecu rag f£a> rov aartog airatxac. — Bell. v. 9, 4. 

2 See view of Siloam from the north, in Barclay, 525; from the 
south, in Bartlett's Jems. 68. 

3 Bell. v. 6,1. 4 Luke xiii. 4. 
5 fJte\pi rov SfXoa. — Bell. ii. 1G, 2. 



72 WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 

the conclusion of the work of Nehemiah made the circuit 
of the walls in opposite directions, one of them took the 
southward route, and proceeded from the Valley gate to 
the Dung gate, and thence to the Fountain gate, and 
thence " they went up by the stairs of the city of David 
at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, 
even unto the water gate eastward." 1 

« And after him (i. e. from the stairs) repaired Nehe-^ 
miah . . . unto the place over against the sepulchres of 
David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house 
of the mighty." 2 Of the sepulchres of David we know 
nothing ; but if they were in the city of David, i. e. m 
Ophel, then, from the above allusion to them, they were 
near the stairs which led to Siloam. What is now 
called the Tomb of David, in the High Town, has not 
the least claim to that character. If a tomb at all, it is 
that of a single person, and not the mausoleum of the 
kings of Judah. From the words " over against the 
sepulchres of David," we should surmise that the sepul- 
chres here alluded to were those cut out of the rock, 
which are still seen at the village of Siloam, just " over 
against " the piece of wall last described. 3 It is hardly 
conceivable that the kings of Judah were, in contraven- 
tion of Jewish customs, and in violation of their strongest 
prejudices, buried within the walls. The expressions, 
« in Jerusalem," " in the city of David," " in the city of 
Judah," 4 all mean the same thing, viz. at Jerusalem; 
and from one passage it would seem that the sepulchres 
of the kings (except those of Manasseh and Amon) were 
without the walls, for Uzziah the leper was " buried with 
his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the 

i Neh. xii. 37. 2 Neh - iU - 16 - 

3 See the view of Siloam, in Bartlett's Jerusalem, 1X0. 

4 2 Chron. xxv. 28. 



WALLS OF NEIIEMIAH. 



73 



kings." 1 Josephus also relates, that when Herod, who 
was residing in his palace in the High Town, conceived 
the design of plundering the tomb of David, as Hyrcanus 
had done before, he was anxious to elude the observa- 
tion of those " in the city ;" 2 from which the inference 
arises that the tomb itself lay without the city ; for 
if both the palace and the tomb were within it, the 
words "in the city" would have been superfluous. 
If it be said that the tomb of David, as it contained 
vast treasures, could not have been without the walls, 
and therefore exposed to the rapacity of every invading 
enemy, the answer is, that the supposition of any such 
deposit of treasure is incredible on the face of it : and 
the explanation of the legend about Hyrcanus and 
Herod is, that, when the Jewish princes were under 
great pressure, they laid their hands on the Corban, 
or treasures of the Temple ; but, as this could not be 
publicly acknowledged, it was given out to the credu- 
lous multitude that their newly acquired ingots of gold 
were recovered from the coffers of the dead. 

Of the House of the Mighty no mention is made 
elsewhere ; but, presumptively, it was identical with, 
or stood on, the site of the building afterwards called 
the Palace of Monobazus ; for Josephus describes the 
same wall as descending with its face to the east down 
to the Palace of Monobazus. 3 The word " descending," 
here used, seems to imply that the wall went some way 
down the eastern slope of Ophel for the purpose of 
including the palace. 

The "pool that was made " is the Pool, or Fountain, of 

1 2 Chron. xxvi. 23. 

2 kv rfj 7r6Xei. — Ant. xvi. 7, 1. 

3 airo rrjg SiXwac avaKafnrrov elg avciToXriv o ftt'xP 1 Moyo/3a- 
£ov KaTe&aiVEP avXijQ. — Bell. V. 6, 1. 



74 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



the Virgin, at the foot of the precipitous side of Ophel, 
about half-way between the southern termination of the 
ridge at Siloani and the south-east corner of the Temple 
platform. 1 " The pool that was made " is very em- 
phatic, as this small pool has been entirely excavated 
out of the hard rock, and is approached by two nights 
of steps. 

We now come to the neighbourhood of the Temple ; 
and here the repairs are taken up by the Priests, 
Levites, Nethinims, and Tekoites, the servants of the 
Temple. 

" And after him repaired the Levites:' 2 And Ne- 
hemiah then enumerates the repairs of some small 
pieces as far as "over against the going up to the 
armoury at the turning of the wall" 3 By the armoury 
must be meant " the tower of David, builded for an 
armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all 
shields of mighty men." 4 At the Armoury there was 
« a turning of the wall ; " that is, the wall made an 
angle, and, apparently, a reentering one, or nook. 

« After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly 
repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall 
unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 
After him repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah the 
son of Koz another piece, from the door of the house 
of Eliashib even unto the end of the house of Eliashib." 5 
The last words show how trifling some of the pieces 
repaired by the Levites were. 

« And after him repaired the priests, the men of the 
plain." 6 The wall is now taken up by the priests, who 

1 See views of it, Traill's Josephus, ii. 217. Bartlett's Jems. 112 ; 
Ibid. Revisited, 131. Barclay, 517. 

2 Neli. iii. 17. 3 Nek iii. 19. 4 Sol. Song iv. 4. 
5 Neh. iii. 20. 6 Nek. iii. 22. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



75 



lived below the Temple ; and Nehemiah makes mention 
of three persons who repaired " unto the turning of the 
wall, even unto the corner." 1 The wall, therefore, here 
made another angle ; and as the Hebrew word for " turn- 
ing " is used as synonymous with " corner," or a pro- 
jecting angle, the wall here made an elbow outward. 

"Palal the son of Uzai, over against the turning of 
the wall, and the tower which lieth out from the Icing's 
high house that was by the court of the prison" 2 The 
King's house is, of course, the royal palace, and the 
situation of it was, as already explained, at the south of 
the Temple ; and the court of the prison was attached to 
the palace, and here it was that the prophet Jeremiah 
was incarcerated by Zedekiah : he " was shut up in 
the court of the prison which was in the king of Juclah's 
house." 3 The royal palace was not restored after the 
captivity, but the people could better spare the palace 
than the prison, for the latter was continued to the 
last on the same spot, under the name of the Hip- 
podrome. 4 

" After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh. Moreover, 
the Nethinims [that] dwelt in Ophel, unto the place 
over against the water gate toward the east, and the 
tower that lieth out." 5 The Water gate proper was that 
of the inner Temple, to the south of the altar, and led 
down to the great southern gate of the outer Temple, 
which was probably also called the Water gate ; so that 
this piece of the wall was opposite to the southern gate 
of the outer Temple, or rather was the part of the wall 
which made the nearest approach to the Water gate. 
The wall here turned " toward the east " to " the tower 



i Neh. iii. 24. 

3 Jer. xxxii. 2. 

4 Ant. xvii. 10, 2. 



2 Neh. iii. 25. 
s Neh. iii. 25, 26. 



76 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



that lieth out ;" so that here was another angle. It was 
from the number of towers in this quarter that Ophel 
derived its name, the Hebrew word Ophel signifying 
" towers." 1 

" After them the Tekoites repaired another piece over 
against the great tower that lieth out even unto the 
wall of Ophel." 2 Josephus tells us that the city wall 
from the south joined the eastern cloister of the Temple 
at Ophel. 3 And again, that Titus, when in possession 
of the Temple, burnt the council-house, &c. ; and what 
was called Ophla. 4 Ophel, or Ophla, therefore, was a 
particular place at the south-east corner of the Temple, 
and not to be confounded with Ophel, used at the pre- 
sent day to denote the whole eastern hill. 

" From above the horse gate repaired the priests [of 
Moriah] every one over against his house. After them 
repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. 
After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, 
the keeper of the eastern gate. After him repaired 

Hananiah another piece. After him repaired 

Meshullam the son of Berechiah, over against his cham- 
ber." 5 The Horse gate stood in or near the angle 
where the city wall from the south met the southern 
end of the eastern cloister of the Temple ; and in this 
part the priests repaired eastward to the south-east 
corner of the Haram ; then northward as far as the 
chambers of the priests reached. These chambers, or 
lodgings, of the priests appear to have stood partly 
in Ophla, at the south of the Temple, and partly 
upon the substructions to the east of the Temple, 
at the south-east corner of the Haram. As the cham- 



1 ^??y. But in Simon's Lexicon the word is rendered tumuli. 

2 Neh. iii. 27. 3 Bell. v. 2. 

4 Bell. vi. 6, 3. 5 Neh. iii. 28. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



77 



bers were of small dimensions, the columns of the 
vaults would be adequate to this purpose, though 
not calculated to bear the pressure of a more weighty 
superstructure. Shemaiah is described as the "keeper of 
the east gate," by which is probably meant the east gate 
more than once referred to by Josephus L , viz. the Corin- 
thian or Beautiful gate of the Temple, the eastern portal 
leading up to the court of the women. The south-east 
corner of the outer Temple 2 , from which the com- 
mencement and close of each Sabbath were proclaimed, 
overlooked these chambers. 3 

" After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith's son 
unto the place of the Nethinims, and of the merchants, 
over against the gate Miphkad and to the going up of 
the corner." 4 Where the chambers of the priests 
ended the dwellings of the Nethinims and the gold- 
smiths and merchants began, who accordingly con- 
tinued the repairs. The gate Miphkad is now the 
Golden gate, and the going up of the corner is where 
the wall makes an angle to ascend westward, and is now 
the north-east corner of the Haram. 

" Between the going up of the corner unto the sheep 
gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants." 5 The 
marginal reading for the going up of the corner is, the 
corner " chamber ;" but even this does not express the 
force of the original word, which signifies an upper 
chamber. 6 The principal towers of Jerusalem, as Ilip- 
picus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne, and all those of the 
third wall, were solid at the base, with a guard chamber 
erected above ; and the upper chamber here referred to 

1 Bell. vi. 4,4; vi. 6,1. 

2 to TCTepvyiov rod lepvv. — Matt. IV. 5. 

3 Tre^opia.—Bell. iv. 9, 12. 4 Neli. iii. 31. 5 Neh. iii. 32. 
6 " cubiculum superius ; i/7r£pwo*>." — Simon's Lexic. 



78 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH: 



must be taken to mean that erected over the solid 
square of the base. The latter had probably been left 
standing by Nebuchadnezzar, while the chamber over 
it had been destroyed, and the goldsmiths and mer- 
chants now restored the tower to its former state, and 
completed the wall between it and the Sheep gate. 1 
However, Krafft admits the received translation, and 
thinks that there was here a going up in the sense 
of a flight of steps leading from the exterior into the 
Temple platform. There is certainly sufficient space for 
a passage ; and indeed there is at the present day a 
passage to and from the Haram between the Pool of 
Bethesda and the city wall. 

Thus we have made the whole circuit of the walls, 
and come again to the point from which we started. 

When the Avails were completed, the priests and 
Levites, and the people, were divided into two great 
companies, who were respectively to traverse their own 
portions of the wall in opposite directions, and to meet 
in the Temple. At the head of one was Nehemiah, 
and at the head of the other was Ezra the scribe. The 
point from which they both set out is left to implica- 
tion ; but it was clearly the Yalley gate, lying due west 
of, and diametrically opposite to, the Temple on the 
east. The account of the peregrination of Nehemiah 
is given the most in detail. Nehemiah and his fol- 
lowers had repaired the northern wall, it will be re- 
membered, in the following order :— 

1. The Sheep gate. 

2. The Tower of Meeah. 



i See view, from the east, of the remains of the tower at the 
north-east corner of the Haram, in Traill's Josephus, i. p. xlii. ; and 
from the north, in Traill's" Josephus, ii. p. 134. 



WALLS OF NEIIEMIAH. 



79 



3. The Tower of Hananeel. 

4. The Fish gate. 

5. The Old gate. 

6. The Broad wall. 

7. The Tower of the furnaces. 

And Nehemiah and his company, setting out from the 
Valley gate, now paraded successively in reverse order 
" from beyond the tower of the furnaces , even unto 
the broad wall, and from above the gate of Ephraim 
[not mentioned before], and above the old gate, and 
above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the 
tower of Meeah, even unto the sheep gate." 1 We have 
before explained that the Sheep gate was in the wall of 
the city, and not of the Temple ; and it is added that, 
after having passed the Sheep gate, " they stood still in 
the prison gate," 2 which was one of the northern gates 
of the Inner Temple. It was so called, say the Talmud- 
ists, because through it Jeconiah was led to prison 3 , 
but this is somewhat apocryphal, and we can assign 
another more probable origin of the name ; for on the 
northern side of the Temple, and attached to the High 
Gate of Benjamin was the prison, or King's Bench 4 , and 
the Gate of the Temple, which looked towards or led 
to the prison, may well have been called the Prison 
Gate. Its position would therefore be opposite, or 
nearly so, to the most eastern of the three northern 
gates of the Court of the Priests, and so facing the high 
altar. Thus the company of JSTehemiah moved from 
the Sheep gate in the city wall to the Prison gate of 
the Temple, on the northern side of the great altar; 
and here for the present we leave them. 



1 Neli. xii. 38, 39. 
3 Fergusson, 24. 



2 Neli. xii. 39. 
4 See ante, p. 62. 



80 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



The southern portion of the wall, we may remember, 
had been repaired in the following order : — • 

1. The Valley gate. 

2. The Dung gate. 

3. The Fountain gate. 

4. The Stairs of the city of David. 

5. The Wall of Ophel or Ophla. 

Ezra and his company now ascending the wall at the 
valley gate " went on the wall toward the dung gate : 
. . . And at the fountain gate, which was over against 
them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, 
at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, 
even unto the water gate eastward." 1 It must not be 
supposed from the word " eastward" that the Water 
gate was an eastern gate ; for " eastward " means only 
that the company having started from the Valley gate 
on the west, paraded eastward as far as the Water 
gate. The Water gate was properly the most eastern 
of the three southern gates of the Court of the Priests, 
and led down to the southern gate of the outer Tem- 
ple, called perhaps the Water gate also, and so to 
"the street of the house of God," 2 or " the street that 
was before the water gate," 3 or " east street," 4 as being 
the street lying most to the east, but itself running 
north and south. Nehemiah by the Water gate means 
certainly here the southern gate either of the outer or 
inner Temple, for he adds, after having brought both 
companies, the one to the Prison gate and the other to 
the Water gate, " so stood the two companies of them 
that gave thanks in the house of God" 5 and as they 
proceeded to oner sacrifices on the high altar, we 

i Nek. xii. 31, 37. 2 Neli. x. 9. 

3 Neh. viii. 1, 3, 16. 4 2 Chron. xxix. 4, 5 Neh. xii. 40. 



WALLS OF NEHEMIAH. 



81 



should infer that the Water gate was that of the inner 
Temple. 

Thus Neherniah and his company were ranged on 
the north side of the altar, at the Prison gate ; and 
Ezra and his company opposite to them, on the south 
side, by the Water gate. 



Gr 



82 



CHAP. III. 

, OF THE MACCABEES. 

From the erection of the walls by Nehemiah to the 
demolition of them by Antiochus Epiphanes, nothing 
of topographical interest occurs. During the inter- 
val the storm of Alexander's conquests swept over 
the East, but the reed of Judah bowed its head, and 
was bent without being broken. The Jewish state 
(an aristocracy under the Sanhedrim and the High 
priest), though there was often a difficulty in pro- 
perly trimming the vessel between the Scylla of Egypt 
under the Ptolemies, and the Charybdis of Syria under 
the Seleucidse, yet held on its course without utter 
prostration on the one hand or triumphant exaltation 
on the other. It was the galling yoke of Antiochus 
Epiphanes that called forth the heroic virtues of the 
Maccabees, and led eventually to the reestablishment 
of the national independence. 

In B.C. 168 Antiochus Epiphanes, enraged at the 
leaning of the nation towards the Ptolemies, took posses- 
sion of the city, demolished the walls, offered every 
conceivable pollution in the Temple and on the altar, 
and conceived the design of extirpating the Jewish 
religion, and substituting the idolatry of the Greeks. 
With this view he erected the celebrated Acra or cita- 
del, which afterwards gave its name to the Low Town, 
and garrisoned it with Macedonians, who for many a long 



THE MACCABEES. 



83 



year were a festering thorn in the side of Jerusalem. 
According to the Maccabees, " Then builded they the 
city of David, with a great and strong wall and mighty 
towers, and made it a stronghold for them ; n and Jo- 
sephus refers to the erection of the Acra thus : " Having 
thrown down the walls of the city, he [Antiochus] built 
the Acra in the Low Town. For it was high and over- 
hanging the Temple, and for this reason he fortified it 
with strong towers, and set in it a Macedonian gar- 
rison." 2 The two accounts agree ; for the Low Town 
spoken of by Josephus is identical with the eastern 
hill, on which was Sion, or the City of David, the 
site of the Acra in the Maccabees. As Josephus 
represents the Acra as overhanging the Temple, it 
must have stood on the north of it, and the exact 
position may be collected from the following brief 
but pregnant passage in the Maccabees : — " And 
[Simon] fortified the mount of the Temple, that was 
by the side of the Acra, and dwelt there himself and 
his people." 3 Here we have mention made, — 1st, 
of the Temple ; 2nd, of the Mount of the Temple 
(where Simon fixed his residence, and therefore dis- 
tinct from the Temple itself) ; and 3rd, of the Acra, by 
the side of the Temple mount. The Temple, as we 
shall see hereafter, stood at the south-west corner of 
the Haram. Above it was the Mount of the Temple, 
the Baris of the Maccabees, and the Antonia of Herod ; 
and next it, on the north, was the Acra. 

This site was so commanding, that the Macedonian 
garrison overawed the Temple, and became a snare to 
the worshippers of Jehovah. " It was a place to lie in 

1 1 Mace. i. 33. 2 Ant< xii 5j 4> 

3 Koi 7rpoau)xvpu)(je to opog tov iepov to wapu rfjp "Aicpav, cat (oku 
kel uvtoq kcii ol Trap' avTov. — 1 Mace. xiii. 52. 

G 2 



84 



THE MACCABEES. 



wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to 
Israel." 1 " They made themselves a tower, out of which 
they issued and polluted all about the sanctuary, and 
did much hurt in the holy place." 2 Thus, in a short 
time, from the incubus of the Acra, " Jerusalem lay void 
as a wilderness; there was none of her children that 
went in or out ; the sanctuary also was trodden down ; 
. . . and joy was taken from Jacob, and the pipe with 
the harp ceased." 3 

The coldest chill of the night is just before daybreak ; 
and now sprang to life the chivalrous family of the 
Maccabees, the priest Mattathias, and his five valiant 
sons. The fine old patriarch was soon gathered to his 
fathers ; but Judas, the lion of Israel, at the head of a 
little band of patriots, pursued his wonderful career 
through good report and ill report, undismayed by de- 
feat, a thunderbolt when victor ; until at the end of three 
years from the first outrage of Antiochus, he marched 
triumphantly into Jerusalem, and was master of the 
whole city, with the exception of the Acra itself. It 
was a sorry sight, for " they saw the sanctuary desolate, 
and the altar profaned, and the gates burnt up, and the 
shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest or in one of 
the mountains, yea, and the priests' chambers pulled 
down." 4 Nor was it an easy task to remove all these 
pollutions in the face of the Acra, which overlooked the 
Temple. 5 However, while some laboured in the sanc- 
tuary, others were employed in watching the Macedo- 
nian keep 6 , and thus at last the Temple and altar were 
purified, and the holy place again consecrated to J e- 

1 1 Mace. i. 36. 2 1 Mace. xiv. 36; and see vi. 18. 

s 1 Mace. iii. 45. 4 1 Mace. iv. 38. 

5 etvekelto yap tu) lepui 7] ckpa. — Ant. xii. 9, 3. 

6 Ant. xii. 7, 6.' 1 Mace. iv. 41. 



THE MACCABEES. 



85 



hovah, the anniversary of which was ever afterwards 
observed as the Feast of Dedication. 1 

To guard against a repetition of these defilements 
of the Temple, Judas now secured the Temple and 
the circumjacent area called " The liberties of the 
Temple," 2 by restoring the outer bulwarks. "At 
that time also they builded up the mount Sion, with 
high walls and strong towers round about, lest the Gen- 
tiles should come and tread it down as they had done 
before." 3 That the walls now built by Judas were 
not those of the Temple itself, but of the platform or 
liberties about it, may be concluded from the mention of 
towers, for the outer wall of the Temple had never any 
towers. 4 It was probably also at this time that Judas, 
to counteract the evil effects of the Acra at the north- 
west corner of the Temple platform, erected, or rather 
strengthened, the Baris or fort on the mount, between 
the Temple and the Acra. This monticule was higher 
than the Temple, and commanded it ; but was lower 
than the Acra. 

Originally, Sion and the city of David were the same 
thing, " The castle of Zion, which is the city of David ; " 5 
but now that the Macedonians had seized and fortified 
the rock at the north-west corner of Sion, and Judas, in 
opposition, had erected the Baris or castle below, the 
two names, Sion and the city of David, came to be dis- 
tinguished ; for invariably, in the Maccabees, by the city 

1 Or Renovation, 'EyjccuVm ; on 25 Chisleu. 

2 1 Mace. x. 43. 3 1 Mace. iv. 60. 

4 Josephus adds that Judas repaired also the walls of the city, 
reix^aQ w kvkXm rr\v tcoXlv. — Ant. xii. 7, 7. But Josephus evi- 
dently had no other authority than the Book of Maccabees, which 
mentions only the fortification of Sion. However, the walls of Sion 
formed part of those of the city. 

5 1 Chron. xi. 7. 2 Sam. v. 7. 

G 3 



86 



THE MACCABEES. 



of David is meant the Acra 1 ; and by Sion, the Temple 
mount, on which stood the Baris, afterwards Antonia. 2 
When Judas had secured the Temple, he naturally 
cherished the hope of reducing the Acra itself, and so 
killing the venomous reptile which had thus fastened 
itself upon the very vitals of the city. He therefore 
laid siege to the Acra, and prepared engines of war, 
and would have carried it by assault. 3 But the Mace- 
donians sent intelligence to Antiochus Eupator, who in 
B.C. 164 had succeeded Antiochus Epiphanes, and the 
relief of the Acra was thought of such importance that 
Eupator himself, at the head of a numerous army, 
hastened to its aid by way of Bethsura, the border town 
of Juclasa, towards Idumsea. 4 This movement had the 
desired effect ; for Judas, abandoning the siege of Acra, 
marched to Bethsura, where he fought a bloody battle, 
in which his brother, Eleazar, after prodigies of valour, 
was slain. Judas found himself unable to cope with 
the vast numbers of the enemy, and retired to Jerusalem, 
and prepared to sustain a siege behind the strong walls 
and towers of the Temple platform. Eupator, mean- 
while, became master of Bethsura, " for they came out 
of the city, because they had no victuals there to endure 
the siege, it being a year of rest to the land," 5 i. e. the 
sabbatic year, which fixes the capture to B. c. 163. 

1 1 Mace. i. 33; ii. 31 ; vii. 32 ; xiv. 36. 

2 1 Mace. iv. 37, 60; v. 54; vi. 62; vii. 33; x. 11. 

3 1 Mace. vi. 20. Ant. xii. 9, 3. 

4 Fergusson writes : " Bethzur, a name in the Maccabees, conti- 
nually applied to the tower Antonia," &c. (Fergusson, 60) ; but 
he could scarcely have read the following passage : " Simon for- 
tified the cities of Judah, together with Bethsura, that lieth upon 
the borders of Judcea." — 1 Mace. xiv. 33. Bethsura was not at 
Jerusalem, but at some distance to the south. 

5 1 Mace. vi. 49. 



THE MACCABEES. 



87 



Eupator now followed Judas to Jerusalem, and be- 
sieged him hi the Temple platform. Mounds, and 
towers, and engines of war were employed by the 
Syrian host, and on the side of Judas were mines, and 
balhsts, and desperate sallies. Provisions in the little 
garrison, from the effect of the sabbatic year, began to 
run short, when a diversion arose from an unexpected 
quarter. Intelligence was brought that Philip was hi 
arms, and daily increasing his army to enter the lists 
with Eupator for the crown of Syria. It was no time 
for dallying, and Eupator, after a council of war, re- 
solved on patching up a peace. He therefore offered 
the honourable terms, that Judas should acknowledge 
the Syrian supremacy, but the Jews should live in the 
peaceful observance of their own religion, and the walls 
of the Temple mount should remain intact. The treaty 
was concluded, and Eupator was admitted into the 
Temple mount ; but when he saw the impregnable forti- 
fications by which it was begirt, he sacrificed his honour 
to pohcy. " Then the king entered into mount Sion, 
but when he saw the strength of the place, he broke 
his oath that he had made, and gave commandment to 
pull down the wall round about." 1 Eupator now ap- 
pointed Alchnus, his own creature, high priest, and 
then advanced against Philip, whom he made captive 
and put to death. 

Jerusalem was thus once more left naked to her 
enemies, and the Macedonians in Acra were again the 
tyrants of the city. The apostate Alcimus even pro- 
posed that the walls of the Inner Temple, which, as 
standing on an eminence, would long bid defiance to 
any enemy, as they did in the time of Titus, should be 

1 1 Mace. vi. 62. Ant. xii. 9, 7. 

g 4 



88 



THE MACCABEES. 



thrown to the ground ; but ere he could carry out his 
purpose he was struck by palsy, and dropped into his 
grave. 1 

In B.C. 162 Eupator was succeeded by Demetrius 
Soter, who, as Judas was represented to be still main- 
taining himself in the campagna of Judaea, sent Mcanor 
with a powerful army to disperse the little band of 
patriots. Judas gave Mcanor battle, and defeated him, 
when Mcanor retired into the Acra at Jerusalem. 
" There were slain of Mcanor's side about 5000 men, 
and the rest fled into the city of David." 2 As Mcanor 
was coming down from the Acra to the Temple 3 , the high 
priest met him and tendered submission ; but Mcanor 
was furious at his late overthrow, and threatened to de- 
stroy the Temple itself unless Judas were delivered up. 
However, he dared not abide the approach of Judas, 
but retreated to Bethoron, where he engaged in battle 
with Judas and was slain. 4 Not long after, another 
army was sent by Demetrius, under the command of 
Bacchides, and the heroic Judas fell in the fight. 5 This 
was in B. c. 156. 

The hon of the Maccabean family was no more, but 
his brother Jonathan, scarcely less valiant, and perhaps 
more able in counsel, now stepped into his place. 
The fortunes of the patriots were at the lowest ebb. 

1 1 Mace. ix. 54. Ant. xii. 10, 6. 

2 1 Mace. vii. 32. The passage in Josephus, /cat viKriaag [Nica- 
nor] avajKa^EL rbv 'Iov£av etvi tt]V kv toiq 'lepoaoXvfioig aicpav (fivyelv 
(Ant. xii. 10, 4), is evidently corrupt. It should be /cat vitcricrag 6 
'lovdag avayKa^ei rov Nucavopa ski rfjv kv 'lepocroXvfioig aicpav (jyvyelv, 

3 etl avTh) tcariovri £/c Trjg atcpag elg to lepov. — Ant. xii. 10, 5. 
1 Mace. vii. 33. This passage also shows that the Acra was above 
the Temple, and therefore to the north of it. 

4 Ant. xii. 10, 5. 1 Mace. vii. 43. 

5 Ant. xii. 11, 22. 1 Mace. ix. 18. 



THE MACCABEES. 



89 



Bacchides on his victory advanced to Jerusalem, and 
strengthened the Acra still more, and placed in it nu- 
merous hostages which he now wrung from the Jews. 1 
Jonathan and his trusty followers meanwhile yielded to 
necessity, and, retiring to a distance, maintained their 
freedom in the desert. 

It was in b. c. 152 that Alexander Bala, a competitor 
for the throne of Syria, landed at Acra, to try the chances 
of war with Demetrius. The danger was imminent, 
and Jonathan, who had been made an outcast, was now 
to be conciliated ; and Demetrius wrote to him as a 
friend, and commissioned him to levy troops, and gave 
orders that the hostages in the Acra should be restored. 
Jonathan lost no time in seizing upon so favourable an 
opportunity, and without returning any answer to De- 
metrius, marched to Jerusalem and received back the 
hostages, and busied himself at once in repairing the 
fortifications of the city, and particularly in renewing 
and improving the outworks of the Temple platform : 
" And he commanded the workmen to build the walls 
and the mount Sion round about with square stones for 
fortification, and they did so." 2 The eastern wall of the 
Temple mount, however, was not completed, and the 
walls of the city were not carried to any great height. 
The antagonistic forces of the rival princes were so 
evenly balanced, that the favour of Jonathan on either 
side might turn the scale, and Alexander, to win him 
over, sent him a crown of gold and a purple robe, and 
nominated him high priest. 3 Jonathan had suffered so 
much from Demetrius that he naturally leaned to the 

1 jiaXLara de rrjv kv 'lepoaoXvfioiQ atcpav Iff^vpcoae, etc. — Ant. xiii. 
1, 3. 1 Mace. ix. 52. 

2 1 Mace. x. 11. Ant. xiii. 2, 1. 

3 1 Mace. x. 20. Ant, xiii. 2, 3. 



90 



THE MACCABEES. 



opposite party, and accepted with readiness the prof- 
fered friendship of Alexander. This was a fortunate 
decision, for Demetrius was defeated and slain, and in 
B.C. 150 Alexander Bala became king of Syria. Jona- 
than was now a favoured prince, but still a feudatory 
of Syria, and could never prevail on Alexander to with- 
draw the Macedonian garrison from the Acra. 

In B.C. 145 Demetrius Mcator succeeded to the throne 
of Syria, and Jonathan thought it a seasonable opportu- 
nity to rid himself of the Acra. He therefore laid siege 
to it, but intelligence was sent off to Demetrius, and 
Jonathan was commanded to desist. 1 He afterwards 
made presents to Demetrius, and endeavoured by fair 
words to obtain the dismissal of the garrison ; but the 
king was inexorable, and the poisoned barb planted in 
the side of Jerusalem still rankled there. 2 

In B. c. 137 Antiochus Sicletes became king of Syria, 
and Jonathan, who had taken his part in the contest 
against Demetrius, was in high favour at court, and 
now earnestly exhorted the people to raise the height 
of the city walls, and to restore the eastern wall of the 
Temple mount, which had been thrown down and never 
thoroughly repaired ; and not only so, but also to draw 
a wall round the Acra, so as to starve the garrison into 
surrender. 3 Jonathan, however, did not live to see his 

1 1 Mace. xi. 20. Ant. xiii. 4, 9. 

2 Ant. xiii. 5, 2. 1 Mace. xi. 41. 

3 avvayayiov Se tov \abv airavr elg to lepbv 'lojpadrjg arvvE- 
ftovXevero rare tujv 'YepoGokvfAUV EinKaraaicevdaaadai tei^i], koi to 
Kadr)pr)fiErov tov tteol tS leoov 7TEpi(36Xov iraXiv apaaTrjaai, etc. — Ant. 
xiii. 5, 11. " Upon this, they came together to build up the city, for- 
asmuch as the wall towards the brook, on the east side, was fallen 
down." — 1 Mace. xii. 37. It will be observed that this wall on the 
east is here called by implication a wall of the city, and not of the 
Temple proper, which was at the south-west corner of the Temple 
platform. 



THE MACCABEES. 



91 



designs accomplished, but shortly afterwards fell into a 
snare by the treachery of his adversaries, and was put 
to death. 1 

Of the five Maccabean brothers, — Judas, Jonathan, 
Eleazar, and John had come to a violent end, and 
Simon alone survived. Nothing daunted by the fate 
of his fraternity, he at once stood forth as the champion 
of national freedom, and was unanimously elected high 
priest. Fortunately, at this time, the Syrian empire 
was tottering to its fall, and the competitors for the 
throne paid little attention to what was passing in 
Judsea. Simon, therefore, disclaimed all allegiance to 
the Seleucidse, and from the first year of his pontificate 
was dated the independence of the Jewish people. 2 
Simon now made all haste to finish the walls of Jerusa- 
lem 3 ; and then completed the circumvallation round 
the Acra, with the view of starving out the Macedonian 
garrison, too strongly entrenched to be taken by as- 
sault. Belief, though earnestly implored, arrived not 
from Syria, and at last the Acra surrendered, and 
Simon took possession of it " with thanksgiving and 
branches of palm-trees, and with harps and cymbals, 
and with viols and hymns and songs." 4 . Thus, after a 
long struggle, the sting of the scorpion and the poison 
of the asp, which had so long infested the rock at the 
corner of the Temple plateau, disappeared for ever. The 
anniversary, from that time forward, was observed by 
the Jews as a day of solemn thanksgiving. 5 

So much suffering had been inflicted by the Acra on 
Jerusalem, that it was now resolved to raze the citadel, 
and even to cut away the very steep on which it stood. 

1 1 Mace. xii. 48. Ant. xiii. 6, 2. 2 Ant. xiii. 6, 7. 

3 Ant. xiii. 6, 7. 1 Mace. xiii. 10. 

4 1 Mace. xiii. 51. Ant. xiii. 6, 7. 1 Mace. xiii. 52. 



92 



THE MACCABEES. 



This was a work of time and labour, but the Jews 
wrought incessantly by day and night, and at the end 
of three years the mount of the Acra, except a ledge 
of rock left as a wall for the protection of the city, 
had been removed, and the debris thrown into the 
valley on the western side, called, from this gigantic 
work of Simon, the Asmonean Valley. 1 The results of 
this national effort are still to be seen at the north-west 
corner of the Temple plateau, now the Haram, where, 
on the north, and partly on the west, the boundary of 
the inclosure is a wall of native rock ; and, within, the 
bare rock is visible at the surface, reduced indeed to 
the general level, but still to the observant eye ex- 
hibiting the extent of the once famous Acra. Krafft 
imagined that he could trace the circular form of the 
keep 2 , but it will be seen from the plan of the Haram 
esh Sherif, that the western wall runs from the north- 
west corner in a straight hue southward for about 200 
feet, and then bends east, and we should infer from 
this that the fortress was quadrangular. 

Sion, the site of the Baris or Antonia, had before 
been lower than the Acra, but now rose above it 3 ; and 
henceforth Sion, in the place of the Acra, was the keep 
or citadel of the Low Town. The Baris erected upon it 
had originally been the vestry of the Temple, and was 
repaired by Nehemiah, under the name of " the palace 
(Heb. Birah or Baris) which appertaineth to the 
house," 4 and was afterwards fortified, as we have seen, 
by Judas Maccabeus, as a safeguard of the Temple 

i Ant. xiii. 6, 7. 2 Krafft, 12. 

3 kcu to Xolttov k^tiytv cnravruv to iepov, Trjg "AKpag kcu tov opovg 
k(j) w i\v c\vypr\\xivov. — Ant. xiii. 6, 7. It will be observed that 
here, as in other places, Josephus in the Temple includes the Temple 
mount. 4 Neh. ii. 8. 



THE MACCABEES. 



93 



against the Acra ; and now Simon again added to the 
strength of the Baris, and selected it as his palace : 
"Moreover the hill of the Temple that was by the 
tower 1 he made stronger than it was, and there he dwelt 
himself with his company." 

Simon, after a reign of eight years, was slain by 
treachery, and was succeeded by his son Hyrcanus, 
who also made the Baris his palace. 2 It is remarkable 
that when Hyrcanus was besieged by Antiochus Si- 
detes, the inhabitants were distressed for water, the 
only instance, it is believed, in which the city suffered 
in that way, as, though situate on a thirsty and arid 
mountain, it derived an abundant supply of water from 
its numerous cisterns and subterranean conduits. 3 
Peace was at length concluded between Hyrcanus 
and Antiochus, upon the terms that Hyrcanus should 
dehver hostages and raze the fortifications. 4 

Hyrcanus was succeeded by Aristobulus ; and at the 
beginning of his reign occurred a romantic incident. 
He was much attached to his brother Antigonus, but 
"whispering tongues can poison truth," and calumny 
said that Antigonus was aiming at the throne. Aristo- 
bulus was living in the Baris 5 , and hearing that Antigo- 
nus had gone up to the Temple in armour, sent for him 

1 irapa rrjv "Axpav — 1 Mace. xiii. 52. 

2 rtov lepetovrlg 'YpKctrog ... 6 irptorog, knel TrXnciov rip tepu> Bcipiv 

KClTCHTKeVCHTafXEVOg EV TCLVTYj TCI troWci Tl)v MaiTCtV £1%^' ^nt. Xviii. 

4, 3. 

3 Ant. xiii. 8, 2. 

4 KadeiXe c>£ Kol rrjv aretyavqv rrjg 7r6Xecog. — Ant. xiii. 8, 3. Un- 
less it can mean that Antiochus broke up the eircumvallation with 
which he had surrounded the city, for a?r ereixiae rovg kvoiKovvrag 
(Ant. xiii. 8, 2). 

5 KciTEKeiTO kv tij Bapa. /jLerovojjiacTdeicrrj de Xvrcovia. — Ant. xiii. 
11, 2. 



94 



THE MACCABEES. 



into his presence, but to come unarmed ; and at the 
same time gave orders to his guard that if Antigonus 
came unarmed he should pass free, but if in arms he 
should be put to death. The enemies of Antigonus 
reversed the message ; and he was desired to hasten, 
armed as he was,, into the palace. Antigonus was 
passing in armour from the Temple to the Baris 
by the underground passage which connected them \ 
when the guard who had been posted there, seeing 
him armed, set upon him and assassinated him. The 
incident is mentioned as showing that the subterra- 
nean communication between Antonia and the Temple, 
referred to in the time of Herod, had existed long 
before, and was therefore only repaired and improved 
by Herod. 2 

After Aristobulus followed Alexander Jannseus ; and 
then reigned his wife Alexandra as queen, her son, 
Hyrcanus II., being nominally high priest. On her 
death a struggle ensued between the two sons of 
Alexander, Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus. The former 
was at Jerusalem when the demise of Alexander oc- 
curred, and Aristobulus, at the head of a considerable 
army, was advancing from the north. The party of 
Hyrcanus had imprisoned the wife and family of Ari- 
stobulus during his absence in the Baris, which com- 
manded the Temple 3 , and on the approach of Aristo- 
bulus, Hyrcanus sought to maintain himself in the 

1 ev tivi tCov viroya'Kov cujHorlffra . . . mrd top Sparwvoe ko\ov- 
uevov -irvpyov ov <jvvkt>aivev cKpojnarov elvdt rrjv irdpodov. — Ant. xiii. 
11, 2. 

2 Josephus says that the passage KarzoKEvaadr) ru> fiafftXel (Ant. 
xv. 11, 7), and the reader of Josephus must have observed that 
KaraaKevaZeodcu, with him, is to set in order or repair, and not to 
originate. 

3 elg to vrrip tov lepov (ppovpiov. — Ant. xiii. 16, 5. 



THE MACCABEES. 



95 



Baris. 1 However, the partisans of the lethargic Hyr- 
canus on the one side, and of the active-minded Aristo- 
bulus on the other, agreed upon a peace ; and Aristo- 
bulus marched in state to the palace, while Hyrcanus 
retired to the private residence of Aristobulus. 2 

Afterwards Hyrcanus repented of these humiliating 
terms, and advanced, under the guidance of Antipater, 
the father of Herod, at the head of an Arabian force ; 
and, having the people of Jerusalem on his side, took 
possession of the city, and besieged Aristobulus in the 
Temple 3 , but the siege was raised by Scaurus, at the 
command of Pompey, in B.C. 63. 

Pompey afterwards, finding Hyrcanus a more pliant 
instrument, and better adapted to his purposes than 
the spirited Aristobulus, put the latter in bonds and 
marched against Jerusalem. The city is here, as else- 
where, described as weak only on the north (being sur- 
rounded on the other sides by broad and deep ravines) ; 
and the Temple is represented as strongly fortified by 
a stone ambit of its own 4 , not only on the north, east, 
and south, but also on the west toward the city. 5 
On Pompey's arrival under the walls, the popula- 
tion was divided, the partisans of Hyrcanus urging 

1 (pevyei irpog rrjv ' KKpoiroXiv evQcl arvvefiaive Karelp-^Qai ti]v 'Api- 
(Troj3ov\ov yvvaiKCi kol tovq TtaihcLQ avrov V7r6 rfjg fxijrpoQ. — Ant. xiv. 

1, 2. 

2 ar prjffev 6 jiev [Aristobulus] Eig to. (3aalX£ta, 'YpKavog 3e <bg 
i()iu)Tr)g Eig ri)v oikiclv rrjv 'ApicrrofDovXov. — Ant. xiv. 1, 2. 

3 7rpoafiaXibv t<d hpio tov 'Apicro/BouXoy ETroXiopKEi. — Ant. xiv. 

2, 1. 

4 ivTog a.TioXajj.ftavov(7a to lEpbv Xtdivo) TrepifioXu) KapTEpCjg iravv 
TETEiyiu\iEVov. — Ant. xiv. 4, 1. 

5 tote LEpov EVTog TT\g (papayyog o^vjowrara tetel^kthevov, Cjctte tov 
atTTEog aXiaxofxevov ^EVTepav eIvul KaTa(j)vyijv tovto Tolg TroXEfxioig. — 
Bell. i. 7, 1. 



96 



THE MACCABEES. 



an immediate surrender, and those of Aristobulus a 
defence to the last extremity. The faction of Hyrca- 
nus prevailed, and the followers of Aristobulus threw 
themselves into the Temple, and broke away the bridge 
which led to it from the city. 1 By the Temple must 
be meant, not the Temple itself, but the plateau on 
which it stood, for the Temple had no towers or fosse ; 
but the wall of the plateau on the north had great 
and strong towers, and was protected by a deep ditch. 2 
Hyrcanus and his party delivered up the city and the 
palace to Pompey 3 ; from which it is evident that the 
palace occupied by the Asmonean princes at this time 
was not, as formerly, in the Baris on the Temple plateau, 
but in the city itself. Indeed, we know that it stood 
in the High Town, and overlooked the Xyst, and 
was occupied, when the last war with the Bonians 
broke out, by Agrippa and his sister Berenice. 4 Pom- 
pey made his advances against the Temple plateau 
from the north, and after much trouble filled up the 

1 to tepop KaTakanfiavovGL koX ri]V . . « yityupav . . . EKo\pav. — - 
Ant. xiv. 4, 2. Bell. i. 7, 2. It is not necessary to suppose that 
the Avhole bridge, which was very massive, was destroyed, but only 
that the upper part, contiguous to the Temple, was broken away. 

2 avEaT))K£aav Ze /cat evravda fieyctXoi Ttvpyoi, not ratypog ce opuj- 
pvicro. — Ant. xiv. 4, 2. civteT^ov <T eVt ttXeIgtov ol /caret tovto to 
fiepoq TvvpyoL [deyiOei te teal K'a/Wet Zia^ipovTEc. — Bell. i. 7, 3. Strabo 
also refers to the great fosse on the north, though he errs in the exact 
dimensions : Taippov \aTOfjir)T))v tyjov, fiadog /jlev eZtikovto. 7roSwv 7r\d- 

TOQ ()£ TTEVTriKOVTCL KOt dlClKOaiMV ' EK TOV XlOov XctTOfirjOivTOg £7T£- 

7rvpyr)T0 to te~ix°g T °v t£ P°v. — Strabo j xvi. 2. The real measure- 
ments of the fosse at present are about 131 feet in width, and 75 feet 
in depth. As Strabo uses the expression ETTEirvpyojTo, and the 
cloisters of the Temple had no towers ; he can only allude to the 
outer wall round the Temple. 

3 TY\V TE TToXiV tCCli TCL ftcKTlXELCl. Ailt. xiv. 4, 2. 

4 Ant. xx. 8, 11. 



4 



THE MACCABEES. 97 

fosse, and beat down the towers, and so became master 
of the Temple. 1 

Hyrcanus was now reestablished in the high-priest- 
hood by Pompey ; but many years after, viz. B.C. 40, 
he was again expelled by the Parthians, who made 
Antigonus king. However, the Eomans, in opposition, 
appointed Herod king, and in b. c. 37 Herod commenced 
the siege of Jerusalem. It is expressly said on this 
occasion, that Herod took up his position before the 
Temple on the north 2 as Pompey had done before 3 , 
and the part that was first taken was the Temple/ 
Herod, to do this, captured successively two walls, the 
first in forty days, and the second in fifteen, when 
some of the cloisters round the Temple were burnt. 5 
These two walls, therefore, could be none other than, 

1 Ant. xiv. 4, 3. Bell. i. 7, 3. It is said that Pompey encamped 
« within," on the north side of the Temple : Hoimri'ioQ M evwdev 
(TTpaTOirehevETai Kara to fiopeiov tov lepov pepog (A?it. xiv. 4, 2); but 
etrwdev does not mean within the city, for the north of the Temple 
was not covered by the city wall, but within the circrunvallation, 
which Josephus had just before stated to have been thrown up by 
Pompey, to prevent any escape of the besieged. It is particularly 
mentioned that Herod encamped where Pompey had done before 
(Ant. xiv. 15, 14), and this was certainly without the city ; and 
Herod had to master two walls, viz. that of the plateau and that of 
the Temple itself, before he was in possession of the Temple. Ant, 
xiv. 16, 2. 

2 KaTCMJTpaTOTreZevovTai tov (jopeiov telxovq 7r\riaiov. — Bell. l. 
17, 9. 

3 n\ri<Jtov ekdUv tov Tei%0VQ /caret to lirifxax^TaTov irpb tov lepov 
KaTdffTpaTOTredeveTai, irpoa^a\el.v SiEyvwtcibg wg koi irpoTepov vote 
llofXTrritog. — Ant. xiv. 15, 14. 

4 irpCoTa ixev olv ret tteoX to lepov tiX'ktketo. — Bell. i. 18, 2. 

5 rjpedri yap to f.iev npuTOV reT^og ijpepaig reaarapaKOVTa, to Be 
levTepov irevreicafiEKa, kcu rtveg twv icspl to lepov iveirpiiadnaav 
oTouv. — Ant. xiv. 16, 2. The cloisters of the Inner Temple could 
not be meant, as they still held out. 

E 



98 



THE MACCABEES. 



first, the wall of the Temple platform, and then the 
wall of the outer Temple, containing the cloisters. 
The possession of the platform gave Herod the com- 
mand of the Low Town, and accordingly the partisans 
of Antigonus now fled into the Inner Temple and the 
Upper City. 1 But both were afterwards taken by 
assault or surrendered. Antigonus himself had retired 
into the Baris, called afterwards Antonia ; and though 
the platform of the Temple was occupied by Herod's 
forces, Antigonus still maintained himself in the midst 
of them. But when all the rest of the city was taken, 
he felt his case to be desperate, and surrendered at 
discretion. 2 He was shortly afterwards put to death 
by Mark Antony, at the instance of Herod, and so 
ceased the dynasty of the Asmoneans or Maccabees. 

1 yprj/jiEVov he. tov k^oodev lepov teal rfjg kcltoj ttqXewq, elg to eatodev 
lepov teal ty\v avio ttoXlv 'lov^aTtoi avvityvyov. — Ant. xiv, 16, 2. 

2 KaruffL /J.EV and rrjg Bap£W£. — Ant. xiv. 16, 2. Bell. i. 18, 2. 



99 



CHAP. IV. 

OF THE CITY AND TEMPLE IN THE TIME OF THE HERODS. 

We now take Josephus for our guide, and shall follow 
his description of — 1. The city generally ; 2. The walls ; 
3. The Temple; 4. Fort Antonia ; 5. The Acropolis, 
or Temple platform. 

We may remark in limine that Josephus had in- 
tended to write a full and particular description of 
Jerusalem 1 (a design which he never accomplished), 
and that all he has left us is a mere sketch or outline, 
introduced for the purpose of better illustrating the 
history of the last great war. 

I. Of the City, 

" The city," says Josephus, " protected by three walls, 
where not encompassed by inaccessible ravines (for in 
that part was only one wall), was seated face to face 
upon two hills. 2 And of these hills the one which 
supported the Upper Town was the more regular 

in its length But the other, which was 

called Acra, and sustained the Low Town, was gibbous. 
And over against this [the lower hill] 3 was a third 

> Bell. v. 5, 8. 

2 So Tacitus : " Nam duos colles immensum editos claudebant 
muri per arteru obliqui aut introrsus sinuati." — Tac. Hist. v. 11. 

3 The passage may perhaps be punctuated thus : " The Low 
Town was like a crescent, and was over against this [the upper hill], 
There was a third hill," &C; 



100 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



hill, both lower by nature than Acra and separated 
formerly [from the city on the west] by another 
broad ravine. But. in after times, under the dynasty 
of the Asmoneans, they both filled up the ravine from 
a desire to join the city to the Temple \ and, cutting 
down the height of the Acra [the Macedonian keep 
at the north-west of the Temple], made it lower, in 
order that the Temple might overlook that also. But 
the ravine called the Tyropoeon, which, as we have said, 
divides the hill of the Upper Town and the lower hill, 

reaches as far as Siloam But, from without, 

the two hills of the city were surrounded by deep 
ravines, and there was no approach by reason of the 
ravines on either side." 2 And a little further on the 
historian adds, that by the wall of Agrippa a fourth 
hill called Bezetha was enclosed and became part of 
the city. 3 

The above description is found substantially to accord 
with the present features of Jerusalem. The two hills, 
with the ravine between them called the Tyropoeon 
and running down to Siloam, are easily distinguishable. 
The upper hill is that on the west now erroneously 
named Sion, and called in these pages Pseudo-Sion. 
The lower hill is the eastern ridge which extends to 
Siloam, and was defended on the north by the Mace- 
donian keep called Acra, whence the name of the ridge 
itself and of the town upon it. The upper hill was, ac- 
cording to Josephus, " the more regular in its length," 
i. e. from north to south, and accordingly Barclay 

1 So in another place : Itt* tvo\v yap tx <J}aav ra>c fyapayyag, avi- 

UOVV fiovkOfXtVOL rOVQ GT£yu)7TOVQ TOV CLCTTEWQ. - — Bell. V. 5, 1. 

2 Bell. v. 4, 1. 

3 TtrapTOP \o<£oj' 3 oc jcaXetrai Bs^edd, KUfieyog fxev avriKpv Ti)g 
'AvTioviag Bell. v. 4, 2. 



THE CITY. 



101 



speaks of it as "approximating to the shape of a 
regular parallelogram." 1 

The loiver hill is said to have been gibbous, or in 
the form of a crescent 2 , and it will be seen from the 
plan that the eastern hill tapers down towards the 
south, where it ends at Siloam in a point inclining to 
the west. It is not necessary to understand Josephus, 
by the word atxcplxuprog, to mean that the Low Town 
was a crescent with two horns ; but even in that sense 
the description would not be inaccurate, for the tract 
enclosed by the second wall, as we shall see presently, 
was regarded as part of the Low Town, and on that 
assumption the Low Town (exclusive of the New 
Town, but inclusive of the Temple) was broadest at the 
north-east, and became gradually contracted not only 
towards the south upon Ophel, but also towards the 
west above the High Town. 

The third hill, which was subordinate to, and com- 
prised under, the second hill, and which is said to have 
been originally separate from the city, but afterwards in- 
corporated with it by filling up the intervening valley, 
was Mbriah, the mount on which the Temple was 
erected. This is evident from the statement that the 
" third hill" was naturally lower than the Acra, but that, 
by reducing the height of the Acra, " the Temple was 
made to overlook the Acra," so that the third hill 
and the Temple are spoken of as synonymous. In 
strictness, however, the third hill was the Temple 
mount, the site of the Baris or Antonia, just north 
of the Temple ; but as the Baris or Antonia was at 
the same time the vestry and the fortress of the 
Temple, and was actually united to it by Herod, 



1 Barclay, 417. 



2 ajMpiicvpToe. — -Bell. v. 4, 1, 

H 3 



102 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



Josephus here, as elsewhere, includes the Temple 
mount under the name of the Temple. 

It is not uncommonly supposed that the Temple 
mount was once divided from the Acra at the north- 
west corner of the Temple platform by a ravine 
running between them from east to west, and that this 
was the ravine filled up by the Asmoneans ; but clearly 
this cannot be, for Josephus tells us that the ravine 
was filled up from a desire to join the Temple, not to 
the Acra, which was on the north, but to the city, 
which was on the west. 1 The idea of a ravine running 
across the Temple platform from east to west is purely 
chimerical. 

The fourth hill, or Bezetha, was situate to the north 
of the Temple platform, and is identical with that on 
which stands the mosque Mulawiyeh. The eastern 
ridge there attains a considerable height, equal or 
nearly so to that of the western. 2 The present north 
wall of the city runs along the brow of it, and beneath 
it lies the great subterranean quarry called the Cotton 
grotto. As Bezetha and Antonia were both on the 
same ridge, Bezetha was said to be over against An- 
tonia 3 , which will serve to explain in what sense the 
Temple mount is spoken of as over against Acra 4 ; that 
is, the Temple mount and the Macedonian Acra were 
both on the same ridge, the one overlooking the 
other. 

As to the two valleys mentioned by Josephus, one, 
the Tyropoeon, which separated the High and Low 
Towns, commences at what is now called the Jaffa 

i Bell. v. 4, 1 ; v. 5, 1. 2 Rob. i- 266. 

3 KEIJJ.EVOQ fJLE V ClVTLKpV T?IQ ' AvTidVlClQ. Bell. V. 4, 2. 

4 arepog <He 6 KaXovfxevog "A/cpa. . . . Tovtov de avriKpv rpirog f]v 
XoQog, etc. — Bell. v. 4, 1. 



THE CITY. 



103 



gate, and, running thence eastward to the Haram, turns 
there towards the south to Siloam, so that the western 
hill, or the Upper Town, was literally, as Josephus 
elsewhere describes it, " surrounded on all sides by 
ravines," 1 viz. by the Tyropoeon on the north and east, 
and by the Valley of Hinnom on the south and west. 
But the Tyropoeon on the north was probably never 
very deep, or Josephus, alluding to this part, would 
not have said that the city had three walls where it 
was not girt in by inaccessible ravines. 2 But, on 
the other hand, the fall of ground must have been 
considerable, for the northern limb of the first wall 
is said to have been erected on a high brow 3 ; and 
again, when Titus had mastered successively the 
third and second walls, he could not take the Upper 
Town without casting up mounds against it, by reason 
of the precipices. 4 

This part of the ravine, from the Jaffa gate to the 
Haram, can at the present day be traced only by the 
rise of ground, which is still very perceptible on the 
right hand as you walk down the street from the gate 
to the Haram. 5 The quantity of debris collected at 
the foot of the High Town may be understood from 
the simple fact, that, in digging for a foundation near 
the Jaffa gate, a chapel (itself comparatively modern) 
was discovered at the depth of 25 feet from the present 

1 TtepiKp-qixvov. — Bell. viii. 8, 1. 2 Bell. v. 4, 1. 

s £ y h^nXo) \6<pa>. — Bell. v. 4, 4. 4 Bell. vi. 8, 1. 

5 Eobins. B.R. i. 264 ; iii. 208. The author of Murray's Handbook 
for Syria, who had twice visited Jerusalem, remarks : " From the top 
of the Pasha's house, or some commanding spot near the north-west 
angle of the Haram, we distinctly observe a considerable depression, 
commencing at the Jaffa gate, and running down eastward in the 
line of the street of David." — P. 94. 

h 4 



104 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



surface. 1 It was at this point that the Eomans under 
Titus cast up two mounds against the High Town 2 , 
and this alone would account in great measure for the 
disappearance of the valley. 

The " other ravine " spoken of by Josephus as 
separating the Temple from the city, and there- 
fore on the west of the Temple, is now known as 
the Mill Valley, and descends obliquely from the 
Damascus gate to the Haram, where it falls into the 
Tyropoeon. The Asmoneans are said to have cast the 
spoil from the demolition of the Macedonian Acra 
into this valley to fill it up, but the hollow, though the 
depth of it by this means was much reduced, was not 
entirely effaced, for even in the time of Josephus the 
most northern of the four western gates of the Temple 
led down to the valley by steps, and then up again to 
the city. 3 The opinion advanced by some, that this 
valley to the west of the Temple was the Tyropoeon, 
is at once displaced by the fact that the historian 
expressly speaks of the Asmonean Valley as the " other 
valley," and therefore distinct from the Tyropoeon, 
which he had before described as separating the High 
and Low Towns, and running down to Siloarn. 

The High Town, which was seated upon the upper 
hill, was exclusively confined to Pseudo-Sion, and 
comprehended no part of the quarter inclosed by 
the second or third wall. Thus, when Titus first 
reconnoitred the city, he conceived the design of 
opening the attack upon the third or outer wall, 
at the monument of the high priest John, because, 
as the first wall lay exposed on the north in the 
part between the third wall which started from Hip- 



1 Eobins. B. R. iii. 184, 208. 
3 Ant. xv. 11, 5. 



2 Bell. v. 9, 2. 



THE CITY. 



105 



picus, and the second wall which started from Gen- 
nath, he might thus, without taking the second wall, 
be able to assault the " High Town " or Pseudo- 
Sion 1 ; so that the Upper Town was regarded as dis- 
tinct from the quarters enclosed either by the third or 
second wall. 

Again, when Titus had taken successively the third 
and second walls, he then proceeded against the " High 
Town," so that the High Town was not considered as 
comprised within either the third or second wall. 2 

Again, of the four western gates of the Temple, one, 
the most southerly, led to the "High Town," and 
another, the most northerly, led to the " other city," 
or Low Town. 3 The northern limit of the High 
Town ran therefore, at least towards the east, in a hue 
between the northern and southern gates on the west 
of the Temple, i. e. the High Town did not extend 
beyond Pseudo-Sion. 

The Low Town lay principally, but not exclusively, 
on the eastern hill or Ophel. That, the main part of 
it was on the lower or eastern hill is evident from 
Josephus's description of the two hills before given ; 
and there are other passages to the same effect. 

Thus the Acra, or Macedonian keep, which certainly 
stood on the eastern hill, at the north-west corner of the 
Temple enclosure, now the Haram, is said to have been 
built in the Low Town 4 ; and, when the Acra was 
razed, Antonia, which stood next it on the south, be- 
came the garrison of the Low Town, as Herod's palace 
was of the High Town. 5 

1 TV «™ TroXtv. — Bell. v. 6, 2. 

2 Bell. vi. 8, 1. 3 Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

4 iv rfj kcitu) ttoXel. — Ant. xii. 5, 4. 

5 fpovpiov yap knzKEiTo Trj woXei fizv [the Low Town] to tepov, rw 



106 



TIME OF THE HEKODS. 



Again, when Titus had taken the second wall, he 
encouraged his soldiers against Antonia, by saying that 
the possession of Antonia, would make them masters of 
the city \ that is of the Low Town ; for at that time the 
tract on the west of the Temple was already in the 
hands of Titus, and was therefore out of the question ; 
and the High Town could not be meant, as the posses- 
sion of Antonia would have no effect upon it. 

Again, when Antonia and the Temple had fallen into 
the hands of the Eomans, Titus (on the J ews in the High 
Town refusing to surrender) burnt the buildings about 
the Temple, as the Archive (the old Gate of Benjamin 
in the middle of the north wall of the Temple platform), 
the Acra or fortress substituted for the old Acra at 
the north-west corner of the platform, the Council- 
house on the west of the platform, and Ophla on 
the south of the platform ; and from the latter the fire 
spread down to the palace of Helena, " in the middle of 
Acra," where plainly by Acra is meant the city on 
the eastern hill, or Ophel, to the south of the Temple. 2 
The Jews then drove the Eomans out of the palace 
of Helena (which could not have been, had it lain 
within the second wall, which had been long in the 
hands of the Eomans 3 ), and the next day Titus retook 
the palace, and forced the Jews wholly " from the Low 
Town, and burnt it down to Siloam" * — an indisputable 

lepu> %e rj 'Avrwvm. Kara de ruvrr/v ol rwv rptiZv QvXukeq 7]aar, ical 
rfjg avu ttoXeuq 'iSiov typovpiov i\v ra 'Hpw^ou fiaalXeia. — Bell. v. 
5, 8. 

1 avafiavTEQ yovv sVt rr\v ' Avrom'av t'x ^ T V V ^oXiv. — BelL vi 
1, 5. 

2 Bell. vi. 7, 1. 

3 Bell. v. 6, 3. 

4 rrj M kb~K 'Pw/kuoi rpeipafiEvoi tovq Xrjffrdg kic Trjg Karo) 7ro- 
Xeojq ra ftt'xP 1 T0 ^ SiXwa/z iravra EVEtrpY\r;av. — Bell. vi. 7, 2. 



\ 



THE CITY. 



107 



proof that the Low Town was on Ophel, and reached 
down to Siloam. 

This site of the palace of Helena, in the middle of 
the eastern hill, throws light incidentally on another 
passage relating to the Low Town, where it is said 
that, in the siege by Titus, John held the Temple 
and the immediate precincts, and that Simon was in 
possession of the High Town, " and the fountain [Siloam] 
and Acra which is the Low Town xarco 7roXi$), viz. 
(xai) the parts as far as the palace of Helena " (that is, 
as far as the middle of the eastern hill), while the in- 
terval between the palace and the Temple was ravaged 
by both factions. 1 

This Queen Helena was the mother of Monobazus, 
and the two palaces of Helena and Monobazus were, 
as we should expect, very near to each other ; for 
Helenas palace was in the middle of Ophel, and 
Josephus describes the first wall as running along the 
east of Ophel, from Siloam down to the palace of Mono- 
bazus. 2 

However, the Low Town was not confined to the 
eastern hill, or Ophel, but also comprised, on the west 
of the Temple, the tract inclosed by the second wall. 
This, we think, will appear from several considerations. 

In the first place the tract within the second wall 
must, as being no part of Bezetha, the New Town, 
have belonged either to the High Town or Low Town. 
Originally it was separated from each by a ravine, 
viz. from the High Town by the Tyropoeon, and from 
the Low Town by the Asmonean Valley ; but when 
the latter was filled up by the Asmoneans, and the 

1 Bell. v. 6, 1. 

2 tovte apyaiov te'i\ovq oaov cnro ttjq 2iXwdg avaKa^.TZTOV eig ava- 
ro\}]v f o fj-txpi Toil M.ovo(ja£,ov KaTefiaivzv avXrjc. — Bell. v. 6, 1. 



108 TIME OF THE HERODS. 

quarter within the second wall was united to the Temple, 
it came to be regarded as part of the Low Town. Thus 
the High Town is described by Josephus as surrounded 
on all sides by ravines \ which would be contrary to the 
fact if the High Town comprised the quarter enclosed 
by the second wall, which had no ravine on the north 
or west. On the other hand, the Low Town is said to 
have been originally intersected by a ravine, which 
was afterwards filled up by the Asmoneans ; and as 
the ravine in question must have been that on the west 
of the Temple, it follows that the tract opposite to the 
Temple, that is, the part circumscribed by the second 
wall, was regarded as parcel of the Low Town. 2 

So when John, in the war against Simon, erected four 
towers at the four corners of the Temple, that at the 
north-west corner, which faced the quarter inclosed by 
the second wall, is described as being over against the 
Low Town. 3 And, again, Josephus writes that of the 
four gates on the western side of the Temple, one led 
to the " High Town," and the two next to the " Suburb " 
between the Temple and the High Town, and the most 
northern to the " other city," 4 that is, the Low Town. 

In fact, this accretion to the city on the west of the 
Temple, being commanded in a military point of view, 
not by Herod's palace in the High Town, from which 
it was divided by a ravine, but by the Baris or Antonia 
on the Temple Mount 5 , was on that account reckoned 
not into the High Town but into the Low Town. 
True, the western portion of the swell of ground at the 
north of the High Town may be more elevated, perhaps, 

i Bell. vi. 8, 1. 2 BeU - v - 4 > L 

3 kvTLKpv rfjg K&rm ttoXs^. — Sell, iv. 9, 12. And see v. 1, 3. 

4 elg nji> a\\r)v iroXiv. — Ant. xv, 11, 5. 
s Bell. v. 5, 8. 



V 

\ 



THE CITY. 



109 



than the High Town, but the eastern portion of the 
swell, which was the part enclosed by the second wall, 
was much lower than the High Town. For want of a 
better name, we should designate the area within the 
second wall as the Inner Low Town, in contradistinction 
to the Outer Low Town upon the ridge of the eastern 
hill. 

There was afterwards added, by the erection of the 
wall of Agrippa in a.d. 43, a third quarter of the city, 
called Bezetha or New Town. This occupied all the 
northern portion of the city, from Hippicus on the west 
to the Temple platform on the east, but exclusive of the 
tract comprised within the second wall. As Bezetha 
was first inclosed by the third or Agrippa's wall, the 
course of which is a problem of extreme difficulty, we 
shall reserve the limits of the New Town for future 
discussion. 

Josephus, with reference to the city generally, ob- 
serves that, " from without, the two hills of the city 
were surrounded by deep ravines, and there was no 
approach by reason of the ravines on either side." 1 
Some understand the historian by this to say that the 
whole city was encircled by ravines, and therefore 
impugn his accuracy in this respect ; but he could 
not have meant this, as it would be inconsistent with 
his other statement that Jerusalem lay exposed on the 
north. 2 The drift of the passage appears to be this. 
He had before stated that where the city was not girt 

1 "E£w0ev dt ol rrjg ttoXsojq dvo Xo0ot (3a6eiaig (papay^t Trepiei- 
yovTO) Kat did Tovg eKarepojdev Kprjfxrovg irpocirbv ovhufxodev f\v. — 
Bell. v. 4, 1. 

2 TTtpiEyoy.ivr] jSadeta (pcipayyi Kara irav to votiov K\lfj.a. — 
Ant. XV. 11, 5. ovte yap /caret tclq (pdpayyag i\v tcov TrpoGirbvy wax 
Kara ddrepa to TrpwTQi' Tei\og k(paivsTO tGjv dpydvojv aTepewTepor. 
—■Bell v. 6, 2. 



110 



TIME OF THE IIERODS. 



in by inaccessible ravines, it was defended by as many 
as three walls. " But," he continues, " from without, 
i. e. where there is only one wall, there are inaccessible 
ravines." And this is exactly the case ; for the two hills 
are protected on the west and south by the Valley of 
Hinnom, and on the east by the Valley of J ehoshaphat, 
and between the two runs the subordinate Valley of 
Tyropoeon. From these natural defences no attack was 
ever made by a besieging enemy upon Jerusalem on the 
east, west 1 , or south sides of the High Town, but always 
on the north. 

II. Of the Walls, 

Even stone walls cannot fail to awaken some degree 
of interest, when it is remembered that upon the result 
of the inquiry depends the question, Where was Mount 
Calvary ? and where the Holy Sepulchre ? 

In the time of Nehemiah, the two companies of 
thanksgiving, in their perambulation of the walls, both 
started in opposite directions from the Valley, or J ana, 
gate as a salient point, and Josephus commences his 
description from the same quarter, viz. from the tower 
Hippicus. 2 This was one of the three famous towers 
erected by Herod in the wall at the north of his palace, 
which stood at the north-west corner of the High Town. 3 

1 We should except, perhaps, the mounds thrown up by Titus 
against the palace on the west. Bell. vi. 8, 1 and 4. 

2 Bell. v. 4, 2. 

3 Mr. Thrupp thinks that the palace could hardly have stood, as 
commonly assumed, " in the north-western corner of the upper 
city ; " for that (1) in the rebellion which led to the siege by Titus, 
« we are told that the fire began at Antonia, passed onward to 
the palace, and consumed the roofs of the three towers (Bell. v. 
4 4), which would seem to imply that it reached the palace before 
the towers; and (2) Josephus speaks of one of the four western gates 



\ 



THE WALLS. 



Ill 



Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne were erected on an 
eminence represented by Josephus to be 45 feet high. 1 
Hippicus was a square of 37^ feet each way, and solid 
to the height of 45 feet. Phasaelus was a square of 
60 feet each way, and was solid to an equal height. 2 
Mariamne was 30 feet square, and also solid to an equal 
height. 3 The rock which sustained these costly and 
imposing structures still remains, and is 42 feet high 4 , 
thus wanting only 3 feet of the elevation given to it by 
Josephus. The base only of Hippicus survives, being 
the foundation of the north-west tower of the present 
citadel, and is marked A on the accompanying plan. 
It measures 45 feet square, so that Josephus's 37^ feet, 
if exact, must have been applied to the tower erected 

of the Temple as leading by the bridge or causeway into the palace, 
where it can only be the palace of Herod that is meant." — Anc. 
Jerus. 191. 

As to the first argument, Mr. Thrupp understands Josephus to 
speak literally of the progress of some particular fire, whereas the 
historian is plainly referring only in general terms to the calamitous 
events which he had previously recorded, viz. that Antonia was first 
burnt (Bell. ii. 17, 7), and that subsequently the three famous towers 
of the palace shared the same fate (Bell. ii. 17, 8). Josephus 
cannot mean that the towers of the palace caught fire from Antonia ; 
for the two edifices were separated by a valley and very distant from 
each other, and the two fires occurred at different times. 

As to the second argument, Mr. Thrupp assumes that the bridge 
of the Temple across the Tyropceon led to the palace of Herod, 
whereas the palace in question was not that of Herod, but the Asmo- 
nean palace, occupied by King Agrippa, which stood on the brow 
of Pseudo-Sion and overlooked the Xyst and the bridge which 
led to it. Bell. ii. 16, 3 ; vi. 6, 2. Ant. xx. 8, 11. 

1 eig rptaKorra 7r//^£tf.- — Sell. v. 4, 4. 

2 to ixkv TtXaroQ Km. to fxfjKog igov iiyz TeaaapaKOVTa iKr\y&v 
etccMTToy, em TecrcrapciKOPTa Be i\v to vglotov aWov vxpog. — Bell. v. 

3 Bell. v. 4, 3. 4 See Williams's Holy City. 



H2 TIME OF THE HERODS. 

upon this broader base. Phasaelus still exists, and is 
marked b on the accompanying plan. 1 It is 56 feet 
4 inches by 70 feet 3 inches 2 , and thus corresponds 
very fairly to Josephus's measurement of 60 feet square. 
It is solid to the height of 40 feet, with much rubbish 
at the foot, so that several feet more in depth must 
be allowed. The stones are bevelled 3 like those round 
the Haram, and have evidently never been disturbed. 
This is the one conspicuous object on the right hand as 
the traveller enters the Jaffa gate, and is miscalled Hip- 
picus, being really Phasaelus. The site of Mariamne is 
no longer traceable, but may be placed at the point c 
on the accompanying plan. The three towers, though 
described generally as in the north wall of the High 
Town, were probably not precisely in a line from east 
to west 4 ; for it is said that the north wall ran along the 
crest of the High Town, but that the three towers stood 
upon an isolated eminence which rose above the general 
elevation of this part of the hill. 5 The palace, defended 

1 See a view of it from the north, in Traill's Josephus, ii. 126 ; 
Bartlett's Jerus. 85: and from the west, Traill's Josephns, 11. 215; 
Bartlett's Jerusalem Kevisit. 19 ; Barclay, 43. 

2 Robins. B. E. i. 308. . , 

3 It has been argued that the bevelling proves this tower to be 
not one of the three described by Josephus, as he speaks of them 
as having each the appearance of one vast rock cut artificially into 
form, and therefore, it is said, presenting an even surface. But 
the words of Josephus may mean equally well « cut ^artificially into 
panelling : " avv^vro V h? KtoQto* Ac **& ecaarov vvpyov 
aiav elL irirpar hv***p***Y, *Wa U .epu^dac X epm r*,«w> 

SieQaireTO. — Bell. V. 4, 4. 

4 The north wall itself was perhaps not straight, as the brow of 
Psendo-Sion in this part, according to the maps, makes a bend 
southward. ' ' \\ ' \ •„ , ■ s * , 

5 avro yap to hp0t«" lv * ^ * X °*? T ' 
K a\ rov A<t*» Mh*t «p*« tic t^ipa „poavu X *v «c rpw^ra 



FIRST WALL. 



113 



on the north by these three towers, reached far back 
on the south, and with its walks and plantations oc- 
cupied what is now the garden of the Armenian con- 
vent, an area 650 yards by 250 yards. 1 The west 
wall of the palace, forming part of the city wall, 
was used for barracks, and was on this account left 
standing by Titus as a shelter to his own soldiery who 
remained in garrison. 2 

From Hippicus the western hmb of the first wall 
ran southward along the brink of the Valley of Hin- 
nom, by Bethso (the Hebrew for dung-place 3 ), to 
the Gate of the Essenes, probably the dung gate of 
JSTehemiah. 4 This course of the wall may be still 
traced along the western side of Pseudo-Sion, in the 
line of the present wall, by the escarpment of the rock 
on the western side of the garden of the Armenian 
convent. The wall is on the interior 18 feet high, 
but on the exterior 33^ feet, showing a difference of 
15^ feet 5 ; to this extent, therefore, the rock has been 
cut down and faced with masonry. Along the western 
brow of Pseudo-Sion, outside the present city on the 
south, is a narrow higher ridge, supposed to mark the 
line of the old wall 6 ; and quite at the south-west 
corner of Pseudo-Sion the escarpment of the rock, as 
if for the foundation of the wall, has been noticed. 7 

7r//)££(C, VTT8[> ffV 01 TTVpyOl KElfJ-EVOl TToXl) fo) TL TOU fXETEWpOV 7TpO(TE\ajJ,~ 

fiavov. — Bell. v. 4, 4. 1 Handbook for Syria, p. 94. 

2 TEiypQ de oaov l\v t£ Ecnripag rifv ttoXiv TVEpiiypv. — Bell. vn. 1, 1. 

3 HKiV JV3. 

4 irpoq Bvcriv ano rod avrov fxev apyojiEvov ^ivptov, dia c)£ rov BrjQaoj 
Kokovnivov, KaTa.TE~ivov E7ti ty]V 'Effatjpujy TrvXrjy. — Bell. v. 4, 2. It 
will be observed that here, as elsewhere, 7rp6g with reference to any 
quarter means facing it. 

5 Tobl. Top. i. 62. 6 Eobins. B. E. i. 310. 
7 Robins. B. R. i. 311. Tobl. Dritte Wand. 337. 

I 



114 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



From the Dung gate the wall " facing the south, 
made a turn over or above Siloam," 1 which must 
have been by a bend up the Tyropoeon Valley, along 
the edge of the High Town, and then back again along 
the edge of the Low Town, or Ophel. 

Its course from Bethso eastward cannot be traced 
by any remains, except that some bevelled stones, ap- 
parently belonging to this wall, have been found in 
a direction from south-east to north-west, near the 
first tower westward from the present Dung gate 2 ; 
and except that the escarpment of the rock, as if for a 
wall, has been observed by Eobinson both on the west 
and east sides of the Tyropoeon. 3 As the aqueduct runs 
round the south of Pseudo-Sion, and of course pre- 
serves a perfect level, we have drawn the third wall 
side by side with the aqueduct, but a little above it. 
This would be the natural line of the wall, and, so far 
as I am aware, there are no signs of ancient habitation, 
as tanks or cisterns, beyond these hmits. Some would 
have it that the wall crossed the mouth of the Tyro- 
poeon at Siloam without any curve ; but the testimony 
of Josephus is express that the wall made a bend 
here, and no vestige of a wall across the mouth of 
the valley has ever been discovered, though often 
searched for. 

The wall from Siloam, " with its face to the east, 
stretched away northward to Solomon's Pool, and, 

1 hirep rnv StXwa^u. — Bell. v. 4, 2. virtp with an accusative 
implies, according to Thrupp, p. 139, motion past or beyond a place. 
But it may also signify " over " or " above." As : vwep Kopv<pr}v.-- 
Bell. iv. 3, 10. ravry yap vnep tov Evcxtov i\aav ttvXcli. — lb. vi. 
6, 2; vi. 3, 2. vvep fjv lnopv^v^ ol nvpyoi Keifxsvoi.—Ib. v. 4, 4. 
vTrep rrjr ttoXlv ixarpov lor-q.— Ib. vi. 5, 3. virep rag iepag >nrv\ag 
£7rl rwv ctytW /jletmttwv ridevrai rd oVXa. — lb. v. 1, 2, &c. 

2 Tobl. Top. i. 60. 3 Robins. B. R. iii. 189. 



FIRST WALL. 



115 



holding on as far as the place called Ophla, joined the 
eastern portico of the Temple." 1 

By Solomon's Pool, which the wall passed before it 
reached the Temple, the historian may either mean the 
Fountain of the Virgin, a small pool excavated in the 
rock, about half-way between Siloam and the south-east 
corner of the Temple, or more probably the large pool 
which once stood at the south-east of the Temple, and 
of which the ruins are noticed by Tobler. 2 The Bor- 
deaux Pilgrim, in a.d. 333, mentions two great pools at 
the side of the Temple, one on the right and the other 
on the left, and calls them Solomon's Pools. 3 As the 
one on the right was no doubt Bethesda on the north, 
the other, on the left, would he on the south, and would 
be the pool alluded to by Josephus. 

As the wall at Ophla joined, not the southern, but the 
eastern cloister of the Temple, and the Temple was a 
square of 600 feet, situate at the south-west corner of 
the Haram, the point of contact of the city wall and 
the Temple wall at the eastern cloister would be 600 
feet from the west end of the southern wall of the 
Haram. Ophla, which was at the south of the Temple, 
at the eastern end, appears to have been a quarter set 
apart for the pastophoria or chambers of the priests 4 , 
and the lodgings of the servants of the Temple, " The 
Nethinims who dwelt in Ophel." 5 

On the north of the High Town, the first wall ran 
from Hippicus along the brow of the hill in an easterly 

1 tTTZLTGi TTpOQ VOTOV VKEp TYjV 2l\wCljU £7TLffTpe(j)OV TT^yr/y, ZvQ&V T£ 

7ra\iv IkkXIvov 7rp6g avaro\r)v iit\ tj]v LoXofiiovoQ Ko\v/j.3i')dpciv } Kat 
Stfjtcov f-^XP L X^P 0U Tll/ °G u y KaXovaiv 'Oifkhv rrj 7rp6g avaro\i]v aroa 
rod lepov avvr\-Krai. — Bell. V. 4, 2. 

2 Tobl. Top. ii. 78. 3 Itinerar. Hieros. 
4 See Bell. vi. 6, 3 ; ii. 17, 9. 5 Neliem. iii. 26. 



116 



TIME OF THE HEKODS. 



direction, till it struck the ravine between the High 
Town and the Temple, that is, until it reached the Xyst, 
when it passed the Council-house, and so united itself 
to the western cloister of the Temple. 1 As the northern 
wall is said to have run, not to the northern, but to 
the western Cloister, we may infer that it joined the 
western cloister, not at the north-west corner, but a 
little lower down. The fourth of the western gates of 
the Temple, which led to " the other city," must have 
stood just without the northern wall of the High Town, 
where it joined the Temple ; for, of the four western 
gates of the Temple, one, the southern, led to the 
High Town, and the two next down to the suburb 2 , 
and the fourth is described as descending by several 
steps into the valley, and then up again to the other 
city. 

The Xyst, which was touched by the north wall of 
the High Town, was a place of exercise and public 
recreation, borrowed from the Greeks, and signifying in 
Greek a plain or levelled area. In the time of An- 
tiochus Epiphanes, Jason, the brother of Onias the high 
priest, offered to pay the king of Syria 150 talents for 
permission to erect a gymnasium at Jerusalem after the 
fashion of the heathen 3 , and license being granted he 
formed a gymnasium under the Acropolis. 4 As the 
Acra of the Macedonians had not then been built, by 
the Acropolis can only be meant the Temple platform, 
and it agrees with this that the Xyst is described by 

1 liaretvov kicl tov Evarbv Xeyofxevov, ticsira rrj BovXfj avvaicrov 

ETVt TTjV e(T7tipLOV TOV UpOV GTOCLV aTn]pTll,ETO. Bell. V. 4, 2. 

2 Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

3 edp avyx^P^U T ^ HovtriaQ uvtov yv^vaatov cat efrifilav 

dcu. — 2 Mace. iv. 9. 

4 acJixivuQ yap W avT))v ti)v 'AKpowoXLV yvfxvdcrtop Kadihpvae. — 
2 Mace. iv. 12, 



FIEST WALL. 



117 



Josephus as below the Temple. 1 The gymnasium of 
the Greeks was usually a stadium, and this was pro- 
bably the length of the Xyst, for the assemblies of the 
people were commonly held in the Xyst 2 ; and in one 
place it is said that they were called together into the 
great Stadium, by which the Xyst is apparently in- 
tended. 3 As the w r est side of the Temple was just a 
stadium in length, the Xyst and the Temple, which 
were parallel to each other, must have been nearly 
commensurate. The interval between the two was 
called the suburb. 4 

The Council-house, which the wall of the High Town 
passed on its way to the Temple, occupied the site of 
the corresponding building at the present day, viz. the 
Mekhemeh, or Town Hall, which stands on the south 
side of the raised street leading from the Jaffa gate to 
Bab es Sinsleh, one of the western gates of the Haram. 5 
The wall of the High Town probably crossed the valley 
on the north side of the Council-house, nearly in the 
line of the present causeway leading up to Bab es Sins- 
leh, but somewhat more to the south ; for the causeway 
is not exactly in the natural line of a wall running 
along the northern brow of Sion, but lies more to the 

1 rov Bvarrov cadv-n-epdev. — Bell. iv. 9, 12. yityvpa tu> Svcrra) to 
Upov vvvTriiTEV. — lb. ii. 16, 3. rovg tx^J 00 ^ P n tne Temple] virep 

lb. iv. 3, 10. 

2 Bell. ii. 16, 3; iv. 3, 10. 

3 ev ru) /j.eya\u) oraS/w. — Sell. ii. 9, 3. 

4 to irpodareiov. — Ant. xv. 11, 5. It is likely that both the Xyst 
and the suburb were laid out with avenues of trees ; and Josephus 
may have referred to them when he states that Pompey, for the pur- 
pose of casting up his mounds against the Temple, cut down "the 
suburb" (t£jj.o)v tcl TrpoarTTeia. — Bell. i. 17, 8). It is more natural, 
however, to suppose that the environs of Jerusalem generally are 
intended. (rriv Trepit, b'\r)v. — Ant, xiv. 4, 1). 

5 Eob. iii. 227. 



118 



TIME OF THE HEEODS. 



north. 1 For a long time it was supposed that this 
causeway was an embankment of solid earthwork, and 
great part of Mr. Williams's hypothesis as to the site 
of the Temple rests upon this foundation ; but, in fact, 
as appears from recent discoveries, the street is sup- 
ported by a series of arches, a plan of which will be 
found in Tobler. 2 

We now proceed to the second wall, of which the 
short account in Josephus is this. " But the second 
wall had its commencement from the gate called 
Gennath, which was in the first wall, and, encircling 
(xux-houpsvov) the quarter only which lay to the north 
[of the High Town], went up (av^e*) to Antonia." 3 
The necessity for this wall arose as follows : — Jerusalem 
was at first the High Town on the western hill, and 
then spread itself to the eastern hill, where arose the 
Low Town. It next protruded itself to the west of 
the Temple at the north of the High Town, so as to 
cover the base and part of the slope of the saddleback, 
or swell of ground coming down from the north-west 
towards the Temple. This new settlement was bounded 
on the east by the Asmonean Valley running from the 
Damascus gate to the Temple, and on the south by 
the Tyropoeon Valley lying at the foot of the High 
Town. To protect this suburb it was required to 
carry a wall across the saddleback from the wall of 
the High Town in a northerly direction, and with a 
sweep round to the Temple platform ; and as the ground 
was naturally so unfavourable for defence, the only 
resource was to strengthen the fortification by a deep 
fosse. Accordingly, from a point about half-way be- 
tween the Jaffa gate and the Haram, that is, just east 

1 Rob. iii. 226. 2 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 224. 3 Bell. v. 4. 2. 



SECOND WALL. 



119 



of the bazaars, a wall struck off northward until it 
passed the street now known as Tarik el Alain, or 
the Via Dolorosa. Half-way along this limb of the 
wall was the Gate of Ephrairn, and at the northern 
end stood, as its name imports, the Corner gate, after- 
wards called the Porta Judiciaria. 1 Thence the wall 
deflected eastward down into the valley, where was 
the Old gate, and thence by the Fish gate at the north- 
east corner to the north-west quarter of the Haram. 
The fosse is still to be traced in this line of the wall, 
across the high ground on the west, from David Street 
to the Porta Judiciaria : that is to say, half-way along 
the street from the Jaffa gate to the Temple, run 
off to the north three parallel bazaars, which lie 
in an excavation of such depth that the roofs of 
the bazaars are on a level with the adjoining ground 
east and west 2 , and at the north end of the bazaars 
the excavation is still continued along the covered 
way as far as the Porta Judiciaria, at the junction of 
Damascus Street and the Via Dolorosa 3 ; and no other 
explanation can be given of this artificial cutting, than 
that it was the old fosse of the second wall to protect 
it on the west. The rock also to the east of the 
bazaars rises to the surface, and therefore presents a 
good line of defence ; and Tobler observed thereabouts 
a huge mass lying on the ground, which might be 
either a projection of the live rock or the fragment 

1 The site of the Porta Judiciaria is now placed to the west of 
Damascus Street, but according to the oldest authorities it stood 
to the east of the street. F. Fabri, in going along Damascus Street 
northward, saw the gate with half an arch of thick wall on the right 
hand, i. e. to the west of Damascus Street. See Rob. iii. 171. 

2 Rob. iii. 166. 

3 Rob. iii. 169. Tobl. Dritte Wand. 238. 

i 4 



120 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



of some wall or building. 1 From the Porta Judiciaria 
to the Fish gate no traces remain. But Krafft states 
that the Via Dolorosa lies in a hollow, which, he takes 
to be. the fosse of the second wall in this part. 2 The 
well-known arch of the Ecce Homo, the piers of which 
are ancient, probably represents the Fish gate; and 
more to the south is an old Jewish tower, noticed both 
by Barclay 3 and Tobler 4 , which may have stood in 
the second wall before it turned eastward to the 
Temple platform. 

Afterwards, in the time of Hezekiah, this line of 
the second wall underwent an alteration. For when 
an attack was impending from the Chaldees under Sen- 
nacherib, Hezekiah, in order to provide a supply of 
water in the event of a siege, constructed a pool, 
called ever since the Pool of Hezekiah, in the nook 
formed without the city by the north wall of the High 
Town and the western limb of the second wall ; and, 
that he might place the pool out of reach of the be- 
siegers, he "built another wall without :" 5 that is, he 
carried a wall from the north wall of the High Town, 
near the Jaffa gate, in a northern direction along the 
western side of the Pool of Hezekiah, and then east- 
ward along the north of the pool, until it joined the 
western limb of the second wall at the Gate of Ephraim. 
When the fortifications were repaired by Nehemiah, 
as it was necessary to keep the pool within the city, 
this outer wall of Hezekiah, called from its unusual 
dimensions the Broad wall, was rebuilt 6 ; and from 
that time until the siege by Titus the course of the 

i Tobl. Dritte Wand. 240. 2 Krafft, 34. 

3 Barclay, 452. See a view of it, ib. 430. 

4 Tobl. Dritte "Wand. 341. 

5 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. i „ 6 Neh. iii. 8. 



SECOND WALL. 



121 



second wall remained as altered by Hezekiah. To this 
supplemental wall added by Hezekiah and repaired 
by Nehemiah must be referred the remains which 
have been described in a former page 1 , viz. the foun- 
dations of an ancient wall ten or twelve feet thick, of 
bevelled stones and unquestionably Jewish, at the 
north of the Pool of Hezekiah, and running east and 
west. 

Let us see how far this suggested line of the second 
wall is borne out by the testimony of Josephus. 

The first statement is, that the second wall started 
from the gate Gennath, and the question arises, Where 
is this gate to be located ? 

If our view be correct, the site of the gate Gennath 
would be at a point due south from the south-west 
corner of the Pool of Hezekiah, that is, just to the 
east of the three great towers, the bulwark of Herod's 
palace, viz. Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne. It 
may be the gate referred to by Josephus, but not 
named, by which the Jews sallied against the Eomans 
as they were casting up mounds against the High 
Town in front of Herod's palace. 2 

It is evident that the second wall did not strike off 
from Hippicus itself ; for when Titus reconnoitred the 
city to select the place of assault, he decided on 
attempting the outer wall at the monument of the 
high priest John, which lay within the third wall to 
the west of the Pool of Hezekiah, because there the 
wall of the High Town was not covered by the second 
wall, and therefore, if he could only capture the third 
wall, he could then at once assault the first , wall of the 
High Town, without taking the second wall. 3 Ac- 

1 See ante, p. 48. 2 Bell. v. 9, 2. 

3 idoKei Kara to 'lwavvov rov 'ApxieoiwQ fxvrjfxelov 7rpo(T^a\eiv ' 



122 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



cordingly, when he became master of the third wall, 
he did make the assault upon the first wall of the 
High Town in this quarter, and Simon, who held the 
High Town, maintained the line of wall against him 
" from the tomb of John as far as the gate by which 
the water was conveyed into the tower Hippicus." 1 
So that between the monument of John, which, from 
the nature of the case, was close to the second wall, 
and the tower of Hippicus, which lay at the north- 
west corner of the High Town, was a sufficient space 
for the army of Titus to deliver the assault against the 
High Town, and for Simon to make head against it. 

Again, at the commencement of the Jewish war, 
when Cestius, the prefect of Syria, advanced at the 
head of a large force, the Jews in a panic abandoned 
the outer parts of the city covered by the third wall, 
and retired into what Josephus calls the Inner Town, 
and the Temple. Cestius, upon this, set fire to Bezetha 
and Csenopolis and the timber-market, and then, in 
order to proceed against " the High Town," pitched 
his camp opposite the king's palace (which was 
at the north-west corner of the High Town). 2 If by 
the Inner Town be meant, as some suppose, the 
quarter inclosed by the second wall, it is clear that 

ravrri yap to te npioTov i\v 'ipvfxa x6 a f* a ^ T£ P 0l/ > ^ T0 %£VT£pov oh 

(TVVrjTTTEV. . . O.XX' £7Tl TO TpLTOV 1]V EVTXETEia dl OV TY\V O.VCO TToXlV . . . 
aipr/GElV E7TEVOEI. Bell. v. 6, 2. 

1 to U tov St/xwvog ray/xa T))V irapa to 'lioavvov ^v^eto^ tfifioXrjp 
SiaXaPovTEQ ktypalavTO fiixpi rrvXrjg Kaff r)v to vdwp ettl tov 'Itttvlkov 
irvpyov EiarjKTo. — Bell. v. 7, 3. 

2 T&V fXEV Elu) Tijg TToXeoJQ fXEpLOV eIkov, elq Ie TYJV EV^OTEpaV Kal TO 

lEpov kvEyJopovv. . Keorioc cie irpooEXQwv virEfXTTifiTrprjcn ty]V te Be^£0av 
TTpoaayopEvonivriv Kai tt)V KaivonoXiv Kal to KaXovfiEVOV &okuv 
'Ayopav. ETTELTa Tcpog Ti]v avu) ttoXlv kXQtov avTLKpv Trjg fiaaiXiKrjg 
avXrjg kaTpaTonElivETO. — Bell. ii. 19, 4. 



SECOND WALL. 



123 



Cestius could have assaulted the High Town in the 
space between the second and third walls, which would 
argue no little interval. I rather incline, however, to 
the opinion of Eobinson 1 that by the Inner Town is 
meant the High Town, and that the conduct of the 
Jews on this occasion was the counterpart of that in 
the siege by Herod, when also the Jews retired into 
the Temple and the High Town 2 ; for how else could 
Cestius, unless he was master of the second wall 
(which joined the north wall of the Temple platform), 
have assaulted afterwards, as he did, the north gate of 
the Temple proper? 3 However, whether Cestius was 
or not master of the second wall, it would seem that 
his operations were conducted without the second 
wall ; for when Titus afterwards captured the first wall, 
and before he had taken the second, he devastated, it 
is said, the northern parts of the city, wh ich Cestius 

had done before. 4 " ^ 3 

These passages establish that the gate Gennath 
was not close to Hippicus, the corner tower. But, on 
the other hand, another citation leads necessarily to the 
inference that Gennath was not very far from Hippicus ; 
for when Titus was assaulting the third or outer wall, 
the Jews were the less solicitous about its fall, because, 
even if taken, there would still remain two walls 5 , — 
language that could not have been used had the second 
wall covered for instance one half only of the north 

1 Eob. iii. 215. 

2 elg to 'iauQev lepby KaV rrjv uvoj ttoXlv 'lovdcuoi cvvktyvyov. — 
Ant. xiv. 16, 2. 

3 rov tepov Trjv ttvXtjp v7T07rifjnrparai Ttaps.(TK£va^ovTO. — Bell, ii, 
19, 5. 

4 ra TrpoaapKTia Tfjg iroXewg a Kal irpoTepov KicrrLOQ. — Bell. V. 
7, 2. 

5 'Erepiov per avro Xenronivuv dvo. — Bell. V. 7, 2. 



124 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



wall of the High Town. But, in fact, at the north- 
west corner of the High Town was Herod's palace, 
protected on the north by the three strong towers of 
Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne ; and, as the gate 
Gennath was close to the easternmost of these towers, 
the Jews might well consider themselves secure when 
the northern line was defended by two walls, except 
where the three towers bade defiance to any assault. 
It is true that Titus had hoped to storm these towers, 
and when master of the outer wall made the attempt, 
but he failed, and eventually took the High Town from 
the west} 

But if Gennath was so near to Hippicus, how, it will 
be asked, could first Cestius and then Titus 2 find room 
to pitch a camp in the space between the third wall on 
the west and the second wall on the east ? Now, on 
looking at the plan, it will be seen that although there 
was little space between Gennath and Hippicus, yet, 
when the second wall in striking northward had passed 
the Pool of Hezekiah, it turned off eastward as far as 
Damascus Street, so that at a httle distance from the 
north wall of the High Town was an open area wide 
enough for any encampment, and far enough removed 
to be out of reach of the enemy's missiles. 3 This Champ 
de Mars at the north-west of the old city, bounded on 
the south by the wall of the High Town, on the west 
and north by the third wall, and on the east by the 
second wall, was the Fuller's field, and was succes- 
sively the camp of the Assyrians and Antiochus Sidetes 4 , 
and of Cestius and Titus, and again of Tancred in the 
times of the Crusades. 

1 ol ulv 6\ov ararerpcKpdaL to irpog Ivcriv relyoQ i]yye\op. — Bell. 
vi. 8, 4. 

2 Bell. v. 7, 3. 3 Bell. v. 7, 3. 4 Ant. xiii. 8, 2. 



SECOND WALL. 



125 



One expression of Josephus deserves particular com- 
ment. He says that the second wall " encircled the 
northern part " 1 , from which we may conclude that 
the second wall took a sweep round to the north ; and 
accordingly, as we have seen, the line of the second 
wall was not direct from Gennath to Antonia, but 
ran first north, then east, then again north, and then 
bent round in a curve to Antonia. 

There is also another word in the passage of Jose- 
phus relating to the second wall which has not hitherto 
been commented upon, but must not be passed over. 
Josephus says that the second wall dvysi, " went up" to 
Antonia ; and if, as we have surmised, the second wall 
passed in the line of the Ecce Homo arch southward, a 
little to the west of the house of Pilate, and then turned 
east to Antonia, it would be described with accuracy as 
" going up " from the valley to Antonia. 

That the second wall did not cover Antonia on the 
north is evident, for Titus hoped by taking the first 
wall, and, without taking the second, to assault Antonia, 
and thereby possess himself of the Temple. 2 

The second wall, if it pursued the direction assigned 
to it, would have two limbs, a northern and a western ; 
and, when Titus had captured the second wall, he threw 
down the northern portion, but left standing that which 
ran southward, and posted guards upon it, 3 The object 
of this was to assist his approaches against the High 
Town over against the palace of Herod. 

The northern limb of the second wall would be nearly 

1 kvkXov^levov to irpoaapKTiov /cXt'/aa. — Bell. v. 4, 2. 

2 Bell. v. 6, 2. 

3 TO TpOCrapKTLOV f.lEV EvOtOJQ KaTEf>pi\pE TTCIV, E7TI TOV KCLTO. fiEUrjJJL- 

(3plap typovpovg to~lq TrvpyoiQ EyKUTaaT^aag tu> TpiTo) 7rpo(r[3d\\ELV 
ettevoei. — Bell. V. 8j 2. 



126 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



in a line with the northern wall of the Temple inclosure ; 
and this, we think, is implied by a circumstance in the 
siege by Herod and Sosius. Herod pitched his camp 
at the north of the Temple and cast up three mounds 
there 1 , and when Sosius joined him it is said that the 
united forces " were posted all along against the 
northern wall of the city 2 ," thus treating the northern 
wall of the Temple as an integral part of the northern 
city Avail. 

But it will be objected if you draw the second wall 
thus, the tract inclosed by it becomes quite insignifi- 
cant. We answer that this is required by all the notices 
of it in Josephus. 

In the first place, the course of the second wall is 
dispatched by Josephus in three hues, which in itself 
indicates the little importance he attached to it ; and, 
again, he says it inclosed that quarter only which lay 
against the north of the High Town, and this dis- 
paraging adjunct " only " points also to the same con- 
clusion. But the relative numbers of towers in the 
three walls are still more conclusive, for while the first 
wall had sixty and the third ninety, the second had 
otAj fourteen towers? No doubt the respective lengths 
of the walls cannot be collected with certainty from the 
number of towers, as the latter may have stood at different 
distances from each other in each wall according to 
the nature of the ground; but still the number of 
towers cannot fail to furnish us with an approximation 

1 Ant. xiv. 15, 14. 

2 %i£KaQr}VTO npag rw fiopEia) te~ix £l t VG noXeuig. — Ant. xiv. 16, 1. 

3 Bell. v. 4, 2. Fergusson writes: " The old Avail had sixty, the 
middle wall forty! and the new, or outer wall, ninety towers " (p. 43). 
We are so much indebted to Fergusson for his architectural sugges- 
tions, that we can readily pardon the mistake of forty for fourteen, 
but any argument built upon the error falls of course to the ground. 



PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION. 



127 



to the truth. It would be difficult to compare the 
towers of the secoud wall with those of the third, as 
the course of the third wall itself is uncertain ; but the 
hue of the first wall can be fixed with some degree of 
precision, and as the first and second walls were the 
most ancient, perhaps nearly coeval, these two will 
supply the best analogy. The first wan, then, if it took 
the course we have supposed, would measure 11,700 
feet, or 195 feet for each of its sixty towers, and at 
this rate the second wall, which had fourteen towers, 
would measure 2730 feet. Now the length of the 
wall, as we have drawn it, is 2800 feet, which is not 
100 feet in excess. Thus the difficulty with the second 
wall is not that it inclosed too little, but how, con- 
sistently with the statement that it had only fourteen 
towers, it can be so drawn as to encompass a space 
sufficiently small. The reason why so many writers 
wish to extend the dimensions arises from the mis- 
taken impression that the whole of the Low Town 
lay within the second wall ; but, as we have seen, the 
quarter within the second wall, though an appendage 
to the Low Town, was by no means the principal 
part of it. 

Now that we have concluded our description of the 
course of the second wall, we may address ourselves to 
the vexata qucestio — 

Does the so-called Holy Sepulchre represent cor- 
rectly the place where our Lord's body was laid ? 

Let us examine first the few indicia to be found in 
the New Testament as to the locality of our Lord's 
crucifixion, and consequently of His sepulchre, which 
was near to it. 

1. Our Lord was tried by Pilate at the Prastorium. 



128 



PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION. 



2. The crucifixion was without the city, but close to it. 

3. There was a garden nigh at hand. 4. In the gar- 
den was a sepulchre. 

■ 1. From the high priest's house, or perhaps from 
the chamber of the Sanhedrim, our Lord was conducted 
to the Prsetorium \ the official residence of the prastor 
or procurator. What the PraBtorium was we are ex- 
pressly informed by Mark, — " the palace which is the 
Prgetorium." 2 There were several palaces at Jerusalem, 
but " the palace " par excellence was that of Herod at 
the north-west corner of the High Town, defended on 
the north by the three famous towers Hippicus, Pha- 
saelus, and Mariamne. In the court-yard in front of 
the palace was the tessellated pavement, or Gabbatha 3 , 
on which was placed the portable chair of state, or 
tribunal, on which the procurator sat to hear legal 
proceedings. 4 That the palace of Herod was the 
ordinary residence of the procurators is manifest from 
the whole history of Josephus 5 , but one passage is 
almost an echo of the account in the gospels. When 
the last great rebellion broke out thirty-three years 
after the crucifixion, the people insulted the troops of 
Floras, who was then procurator ; and the historian pro- 
ceeds : " But Floras was then residing in the palace, 
and the next day he set his tribunal in front of it and 
sat thereon, and the chief priests and magnates, and all 
the most notable men of the city, approached and stood 
by the tribunal." 6 Here we have Floras, like Pilate, 

1 T-o ttpaiTupior.— John xviii. 28, 33 ; xix. 9. Matt, xxvii. 27. 

2 ry]Q avXyg 6 eoti Upatrupiov. — Mark xv. 16. 

3 tfnniia, from or m. Krafft, 166. 

4 Uadiaev etti rod fin/jiarog elg totzov Xeyofievov AtQotTTpwrov, 
'Efipa'iari U Tapfiada. — John xix. 13. 

^ See Bell. ii. 3, 2 ; ii. 15, 5. 

6 QXtipog 3e tote fJLEV kv roig (jaaiXEioig abXii^ETai, rrj ds vcrrEpatg. 
B^ua Kpb avrwv Oe/jLEveg jcaOt^trcu, Kal npotTEXdovTEg aire apxifp^g 



PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION. 



129 



residing in the palace, and then coming forth to the 
Jews and occupying the 0%x,ct. The charge against our 
Lord was made at so early an hour that Pilate appears 
to have been roused from his slumbers ; and it was 
while he was on the that his wife, who had not 

yet risen and was excited by the popular tumult, had 
the well-known dream, and sent a message to Pilate 
in consequence. All this marks the locality as being 
Pilate's ordinary residence, the palace of Herod at the 
north-west comer of the High Town. The monkish 
tradition of the trial of our Lord at what is called 
Pilate's house, at the north-west corner of the Haram, 
is purely the result of ignorance. This spot was never 
occupied as a palace at all, but was the site of the Acra, 
the Macedonian fortress. 

As our Lord was tried and condemned at the Prasto- 
rium, He would naturally be led out of the city by the 
nearest gate (which would be Gennath where the 
second wall branched off from the first near the Prseto- 
rium) to Golgotha, which lay to the north of the palace, 
but somewhat to the east. 

2. The crucifixion was without the city, but near to 
it. 1 The gate Gennath, which stood just east of the 
palace on Pseudo-Sion, and just west of the second wall, 
led out of the city along the foot of the western limb 
of the second wall. After passing the Pool of Hezekiah, 
the wall turned eastward until it reached the present 
bazaars, and then deflected northward, and in this angle 
or corner was Golgotha ; and, as our Lord and the two 
bandits were crucified as malefactors for a public ex- 
ample, their crosses were erected within sight of the 

ro re yvwpLjjLWTCiTOV Tfjg 7r6\e(og nav Trapiarr\aav rw pfjfiarL — Bell. 11. 

14, 8. 

1 Matt, xxviii. 32. 

K 



130 



PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION. 



city, that is, by the side of the great public thoroughfare 
to the north running along the fosse at the foot of 
the western limb of the second wall, formerly occupied 
by bazaars, but now deserted. Accordingly we find 
the people who passed along the thoroughfare wagging 
their heads and reviling our Lord. 1 
. It is objected that Calvary as now pointed out is 
within the city, and so it is at the present day; but it 
was not within the city as bounded by the second 
wall, the limit of the city in the time of our Lord, 
but was inclosed for the first time by the wall of 
Agrippa, which was built ten years after the cruci- 
fixion, in a.d. 43. In the time of the prophets Cal- 
vary appears to have been called Goath, and was with- 
out the city, but destined in after times, according to 
Jeremiah, to be comprised within it: " The measuring 
line shall yet go forth .... and shall compass about 
to Goath," 2 a prediction which was eventually fulfilled 
by this very wall of Agrippa. Goath signifies " violent 
death," and Krafft ingeniously, and probably with truth, 
derives the word Golgotha from Sj cumulus, and nj 
mortuus est violentia, i. e. the Mount of Execution — 
the place where criminals suffered the last penalty of 
the law. 3 In the days of the Apostles this etymology, if 
the correct one, was lost, for Luke renders Golgotha 
« the place called the Skull," 4 from which some have 
thought that it was so named as being a knoll in the 
form of a skull. But in the other Evangelists, Golgotha 
is rendered the place of a skull 5 , or, as we should say, 
" Deadman's piece," a name which may have been 

1 Mark xv. 29. Matt, xxvii. 39. 

2 Jer. xxxi. 38. 3 Krafft > 158 - 

4 rotroQ 6 icaXovfisvog Kpartov. — Luke xxiii, 33. 

5 Matt, xxvii. 33. Mark xv. 22. John xix. 17. 



PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION. 



131 



given to it from the public executions there, or from 
the cemetery which was close by. 

3. At the place of the crucifixion was a garden, and 
we have circumstantial evidence that gardens did then 
exist in this part. In the first place, the gate which 
led from Sion in that direction was called Gennath, or 
the Garden gate\ so that, at one time at least, there 
must have been gardens in that quarter. Again, we 
find express mention by Josephus of gardens just without 
Agrippa's wall, for Titus's first step was to clear away 
the gardens 2 ; and as the wall of Agrippa was built for 
the first time in a.d. 43, it is likely that gardens were to 
be found, though less frequently, within as well as just 
without the third wall. That there were trees, and 
therefore, as we may conclude, gardens, may also be 
inferred from this, that the pool there was called Amyg- 
dalon, or the Pool of Almond Trees, a name which must 
have arisen from the almond trees that grew there. 
Gardens have certainly been cultivated in this part in 
modern times, for until 1844 a small pool, called the 
Pool of Bathsheba, was kept up, just on the left as you 
entered the Jaffa gate, for watering the gardens in the 
neighbourhood ; but in that year, at the request of the 
French consul, the pool was Med up. 3 It will be said 
that, as the wall of Agrippa, erected in a.d. 43, struck 
off from Hippicus itself towards the north, all the suburb 
in the angle between Agrippa's waU and the second 
wall must, in a.d. 33, have been covered with houses. 
But this does not follow, for the wall of Agrippa 
started from Hippicus, not to protect any crowded 

1 From ni33 gardens. 

2 KCLTaPkYidevTOG %e ttcivtoq epKOVQ Koi irepifpayfiarcs offa mirwv 
TrpoavearriaavTO teal Uvdpcov ol oltcriTopec.—Bell. V. 3, 2 

3 Schultz, 78. 



k 2 



132 



PLACE OF CRUCIFIXION. 



streets in that part (which did not exist), but only on 
strategic grounds. Even after a lapse of twenty-three 
years from the erection of Agrippa's wall, viz. in a.d. 
66, the population in that direction appears to have 
been very sparse ; for Cestius, who had been admitted 
within Agrippa's wall, encamped at the north of the 
palace or Prastorium 1 ; and again, in a.d. 70, when 
Titus appeared before the city, he assaulted Agrippa's 
wall just on the north of Hippicus, for, if he succeeded 
in taking that wall, he would then find the road open to 
the first wall, or that of the High Town, as the second 
wall in that part did not cover it. And why ? " Be- 
cause they who built the second wall had neglected to 
inclose this part of the new city, as being only thinly 
inhabited." 2 

4. In the garden was the sepulchre of Joseph of 
Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrim and a rich man. 
Now, that persons of distinction were buried at this very 
spot we may collect from the fact that Titus planned 
an assault upon the High Town on the north, between 
Agrippa's wall and the second wall, at the monument of 
the high priest John 8 ; and if a high priest was buried 
there, why might not Joseph of Arimathea, another 
magnate, have also excavated for himself a tomb in the 
same quarter ? The existence of a cemetery here ac- 
counts at once for the population in this district being 

1 Kiartog 7ra|OeX0wv vrrE[jL7rliJ.7rpr]cn ttivte Be^tOaV TtpovayopEvo- 
fjLtvriv kcu rijv KaivoiroXiv /cat n)v KaXovj-iinqv Aokuiv ctyopdv, etteitu 
irpoQ T))r avoj ttoXiv eXOwv, avrucpv rrjg (SaaiXiKyjg avXfjg karparoire- 
oeveto. — Bell, ii. 19, 4. 

2 ravrr] yap to re npuJTOV fjv %pv}ia ^dafiaXwrepov, kcu to cevrepov 
ov cvvr)trrEv, afxeXijac'iVTiov Ka6' a firj Xtav >/ Kaivij noXig gvvmkioto 
Tuiyj&iv. — Bell. v. 6, 2. 

3 tdoKEi icard to 'Icoavvov rov cip^upeojg f.ivr]/.iE~tov npoafiaXtiv' 
ravrr} yap to te rrpCoroi' r)v 'Ipvfia ydufiaXiOTEpov, koli to ^EVTEpov ov 
awr\-KTEv, • — Bell. v. 6, 2. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



loo 



so scant, for it is well known that the J ews had a re- 
ligions horror of a burial-ground, and interred without 
the city, and could not be induced to dwell on a spot 
defiled by the presence of a dead body. 



As regards tradition we have little faith in it generally, 
but in this case it reaches back to a very early period, 
and entirely agrees with the conclusions to which the 
notices in the rTeAV Testament would lead us. It would 
exceed the limits of a mere sketch, to trace the stream of 
testimony from the earliest to the latest times ; but, 
fortunately, two authorities, the most ancient and there- 
fore the most valuable, are clear and decisive. 

The first of our two guides is the Bordeaux Pilgrim, 
who visited Jerusalem inA.D. 333, a few years after the 
commencement of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
by Constantine the Great in a.d. 326, and two years 
only before the final dedication of it in A. d. 335. 

After describing the platform of the Temple and the 
notable places about it, he proceeds :— 

« Also, as you go out [of the Temple] to ascend Sion, 
on the left hand and down in the valley near the wall 
is the pool which is called Siloam. It has four porches, 
and without is another large pool. This fountain runs 
six days and nights, but on the seventh day is the 
sabbath, when it runs not at all, by day or night," 1 
Thus the progress of the Pilgrim on leaving the 
Temple is to the left down the Tyropceon until he 
comes to Siloam, which is located by him " near the 
wall," i. e. outside the wall, but not far from it. That 

i « Item exeunti in Hierusalem ut ascendas Sion, in parte sinistra 
et deorsum in valle juxta nmrumest piscina quae dicitur Siloa. Habet 
quadriporticmn, et alia piscina grandis foras," &c.—Itin. Hieros. 



134 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



he had made his exit from the city is evident from 
this, that he presently speaks of again entering it. 
The city wall was probably then as now carried across 
the Tyropoeon, between Siloam and the Temple in- 
closure. The outer pool, or that beyond Siloam, in 
the same valley, was the pool constructed between the 
two walls by Hezekiah, and of which the ruins may 
still be traced. 1 

" In the same part you go up Sion, and there is 
seen the site of the house of Caiaphas the priest, and 
there is still the column at which they beat Christ 
with scourges." 2 

The house of Caiaphas is still shown without the 
wall on the south of Sion, half-way between the tomb 
of David and the Sion gate, and is an Armenian 
convent. 3 The column to which Christ was bound 
was pointed out here for some generations after this 4 , 
but has long since disappeared ; and a fragment is now 
exhibited in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 

" But inside, within the wall of Sion, is seen the place 
where David had his palace, and the seven synagogues 
which were there, one of which only has been left, 
but the rest are ploughed and sown, as said the pro- 
phet Isaiah." The palace of David is no doubt 
identical with the palace of Herod at the north-west 
corner of the High Town, and is now the Castle of 

1 See ante, p. 47. 

2 "In eadem ascenditur Sion, et paret ubi fait domus Caiaphas 
Sacerdotis ; et columna adhuc ibi est in qua Christum Hagellis ceci- 
derunt." — Itin. Hieros. 

3 Bob. i. 229. 4 See Itin. Hieros. by Wesseling. 

5 " Intus autem intra murum Sion, paret locus ubi palatium 
habuit David, et septem synagogas quae illic fuerunt ; una tantum re- 
mansit, reliquae autem arantur et seminantur sicut Isaias propheta 
dixit." — Itin. Hieros. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



135 



David. The site of the last of the seven synagogues 
is no longer traceable. 

« Thence to go without the wall, as you go from Sion 
to the Neapolis [or Nablous] gate \ on the right hand 
down in the valley are the walls where was the house, 
or Prgetorium, of Pontius Pilate. There the Lord was 
heard before He suffered. But on the left hand is the 
little mount Golgotha, where our Lord was crucified. 
Thence about a stones throw is the crypt where His 
body was laid and on the third day rose again. On 
the same spot, by command of the Emperor Constan- 
tine, has been lately erected a basilica, that is, a Lord's 
house of wonderful beauty, having at the side reser- 
voirs whence water is raised, and at the back a bath 
where infants are washed." 2 

This passage determines beyond question the tradi- 
tional sites of Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre at the 
time of the Pilgrim's visit. As the church was building 
at this very time, he could not be mistaken, and his 
description of the localities is so exact that it cannot 

1 Nablous is the corruption of Neapolis, by which name Sychar, 
on the great north road through Samaria, was then called. The 
Pilgrim himself passed through Nablous on his way to Jerusalem. 
" Civitas Neapoli. Ibi est mons Agazaren. Ibi dicunt Samaritani," 
&c, and it cannot be supposed that, in speaking of the Porta Nea- 
politana, the Pilgrim could mean anything else than the Nablous 
gate by which he had entered. 

2 " Inde ut eas foris murum, de Sione euntibus ad portam Nea- 
politanam, ad partem dextram deorsum in valle sunt parietes, ubi 
domus fait sive Prastorium Pontii Pilati. Ibi Dominus auditus est 
antequam pateretur. A sinistra autem parte est monticulus Gol- 
gotha, ubi Dominus crucifixus est. Inde quasi ad lapidem missum 
est cripta ubi corpus ejus positum fuit et tertia die resurrexit. 
Ibidem modo jussu Constantini Imperatoris Basilica facta est, id est, 
Dominicum nime pulchritudinis, habens ad latus exceptoria unde 
aqua levatur, et balneum a tergo ubi infantes lavantur." — 2 tin. 
Hieros. 

K 4 



136 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



be wrested to a double meaning. The words " without 
the wall" have been a stumbling-block to some, as 
if the writer had made his exit from the wall of the 
city, whereas he evidently refers only to the wall of 
Sion. The words are : " to go without the wall [i. e. 
the wall of Sion mentioned just before], as you go 
[not from the city but] from Sion." It is impossible 
that he could have quitted the city, for he imme- 
diately points out the house of Pilate on the right, 
and Golgotha on the left, which were both, in the 
days of the Pilgrim, unquestionably within the walls. 
Besides, he advances to the Nablous, or Damascus, 
gate ; and, had he entered the gate from without, he 
would have had the valley on his left, whereas he 
expressly tells us that the valley was on his right. 
The allusion to a wall within the city need not create 
surprise, for when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus 
he left standing the three great towers of Hippicus, 
Phasaelus, and Mariamne, in the north wall of the 
High Town ; and if the towers were spared the wall 
connecting them would remain also. It is not impro- 
bable that Sion may in his time, as in the days of 
Josephus, have been inclosed by a wall on all sides. 
However, it is sufficient for our purpose that the Pilgrim 
had just before alluded to David's palace, i. e. Herod's 
palace, which was protected by the towers of Hippicus, 
Phasaelus, and Mariamne on the north, so that, in 
going from Sion to the ISTablous gate, he would natu- 
rally pass the old wall of the Upper Town, which 
had been left standing by Titus. At the present time 
Jerusalem is traversed from south to north by a great 
thoroughfare, which runs from Sion gate on the south to 
David Street, and then, after a fault or break, is continued 
on to the Damascus gate. The Pilgrim evidently intends 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



137 



his reader to accompany him along the same route ; 
and if so, in descending from Sion to Damascus Street, 
he would pass the wall of Sion at the spot where now 
stands the Porta Ferrea 1 (which may be, not Gennath, 
but the gate of communication between Sion and the 
northern quarter), and he would then proceed, to use 
his own words, " from Sion to the Nablous gate," and 
pass along Damascus Street. On the right, he says, 
down in the valley, was the house of Pilate ; and so it 
is at the present day, for on the right is the valley 
which descends from the Damascus gate to the Haram, 
and on the eastern brink of the valley is the traditional 
house of Pilate, at the north-east corner of the Haram. 
On the left, says the Pilgrim, was Golgotha ; and so it 
is, for at the distance of about 300 feet from the mam 
street on the left is the spot now so called. At a 
stone's throw, says the Pilgrim, from Golgotha, was 
the Holy Sepulchre ; and so it is, for at forty yards 
from Golgotha, and on the other side of it, is the Holy 
Sepulchre. 2 On the same spot, says the Pilgrim, was 
the newly erected Basilica of Constantine 3 ; and there 
now is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the 
side of the Basilica, says the Pilgrim, are reservoirs 
whence water is raised ; and accordingly on the one 
side of the church, on the north, is the greatest 
cistern in Jerusalem, called the Treasury of Helena ; so 
named from the mother of Constantine, who herself 
had been a pilgrim to these holy places, and was mainly 
instrumental in promoting the erection of the church. 
On the other side, the south, is what is called the 
Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, but which is 

i Rob. iii. 200. Tobl. Top. i. 414. 2 Barclay, 

s » That is, the Dominicum " (icvpiaKoy, kirk, or church). 




138 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 



neither more nor less than an ancient cistern. 1 At the 
back of the Basilica, says the Pilgrim, was the bath 
where infants are washed; and at the rear of what 
must have been the site of the Basilica is now the 
part called the Baptistery. 2 

We proceed to call our other witness, Eusebius, 
who also lived at the time when the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre was built, and personally took part, as 
Bishop of Cassarea, in the dedication of it. His testi- 
mony, therefore, is unimpeachable as to the site of the 
Sepulchre at that time, and, as might be expected, en- 
tirely agrees with that of the Bordeaux Pilgrim, who 
saw the structure rising. There are two passages in 
Eusebius relating to the Holy Sepulchre which at first 
sight might appear contradictory, but require only a 
little explanation. In one place he states that Constan- 
tine erected his Basilica " in the midst of the royal 
hearth [home or seat] of the Hebrews," 3 that is, in the 
midst of the royal city of Jerusalem 4 ; in another place 
we read that " about the Saviour's Martyrium [the 
Holy Sepulchre] was erected the New Jerusalem, facing 
the one so famous of old, which having, after the 
bloody tragedy of our Lord's murder, been hurled 
down to the lowest depth of desolation, paid the 
penalty of its impious inhabitants. It was then, over 
against this, that the emperor exalted with rich and 
costly honours the scene of the Saviour's victory over 
death, being perhaps that New and young Jerusalem 
foreshadowed by the prophetic oracles," &c. 5 Thus the 

1 Murray's Handbook to Syria. 

2 The Treasury of Helena was near the Baptisterium. Quaresmius. 

3 To <T £7ri rov HaXatcrTivujv edj'ovg^, Trjg 'E/3j0atwv /3acri\iKr}c k err lag 
iv fxeao). — Euseb. Laus Const, ix. 

4 See Valerii Epistol. de Anastasi, &c. 

,r> Kai ht] kcit avro to ^(jjrrjpiov Maprvpiov r/ via KareaKeva^ero 'lepov- 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 139 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre is described as, at the 
same time, within and without the city ; and so it was 
in fact : that is, within the city inclosed by the wall ol 
Agrippa and restored, by Adrian, but without the city 
as it existed at the time of the crucifixion, m a.d. id. 
It may seem strange to some that the Sepulchre, which 
is now in the heart of Jerusalem, should ever have 
stood without the walls 1 ; but this growth of the city is 
but the accomplishment of Constantine's design. The 
centre of attraction of old Jerusalem had been the 
Temple on the eastern hill ; in lieu of it Constantine 
now erected on the western hill the new Temple, 
which was to collect about it all the Christian popula- 
tion In the assertion that the Basilica faced the old 
city which had crucified the Lord, Eusebius had in his 
mind the contrast between the two Temples, viz. that 
while the Temple of Solomon stood on the eastern hill, 
the Temple of Constantine was erected on the western 
hill. That the Basilica was at all events built on the west- 
ern, and not on the eastern, hill is placed beyond con- 
troversy by the statement of Eusebius in his other work, 
the " Onomasticon," that its position was to the north 
of Sion 2 ; for at that day Sion was unquestionably the 
western hill, as we have seen in the journey of the 

um^riav « i°X°™ ^pLrpa^a, lU n v irvn lv^,j W v 

omronuv. Tavrr, yovv avr^pic rr,v Kard rov dararov Sony"" 
Wo,- ^Xovff.'a.e Kal Sa+.XtV.v avMov ^Xonfu'atc, ™ X a rov ravrr,v 
olaav rhv S.cJ itpo^TLKihv e^.a/xaTuv K^npvytiiv^ ««>"> * a ' vtav 
'hpovo-aXi'tp., etc. — Vit. Const, iii. 33. 

1 Can it be said that executions did not take place at lyburn 
Gate, or that malefactors were not buried there, because the spot 
is now far within the present London ? 

2 dtkvvTM iv A'Ma Trpoc ro7 C poptiois rax, Siiiv opovc.— Onomast. 

art. To\yoda. 



140 



THE HOLY SEPULCHEE. 



Bordeaux Pilgrim, the contemporary of Eusebius. Had 
the Basilica stood on the eastern hill, it would have 
been described as lying at the north, not of Sion but 
of Ophel. 

The church of Constantine over the Holy Sepulchre 
has long since been destroyed, but the present edifice 
answers remarkably in its ground-plan and general 
features to the description of the original fabric. 1 

To begin with the Holy Sepulchre itself. Eusebius 
states that the mouth of the Sepulchre "looked towards 
the rising sun," and that the several buildings attached 
to it followed successively from the crypt in an eastward 
direction 2 ; and so it is still. The mouth of the Sepul- 
chre is to the east, and advancing from the Sepulchre 
eastward we have the several holy places following one 
another seriatim in that direction, and terminating 
with the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, near 
Damascus Street. 

Again, Constantine first isolated the Holy Sepulchre 
by cutting away the rock about it 3 , and then embellish- 
ing the Sepulchre itself by erecting over it an oratory 
supported by columns, and loaded with gorgeous orna- 

1 See view of the present church from the south, in Barclay, 220 ; 
Vogue, frontispiece. See plan of it, Barclay, 231 ; Tobl. Top. 
i. 268. 

2 T(o yap KaravTifcpv rrXevpoj rov civrpov, o ()>) 7rpdg avia-^ovra 
i'jXwv kujpa, 6 (jcKJiXeiog avvriirro veojg, 'ipyov e^aiaiov, elg v\pog an-st- 
pov yp/divov fii^Kovg re Kdi nXctrovg e-irl irXeiarov evpvvdfievov. — Vit. 
Const, iii. 36. 

3 " The entrance, which was at the door of the Saviour's sepulchre, 
was hewn out of the rock itself, as is customary here in the front 
of the sepulchres. For now it appears not, the outer cave having 
been hewn away for the sake of the present adornment; for, before 
the Sepulchre was decorated by royal zeal, there was a cave in the 
face of the rock." — Cyril, Led. xiv. 9. 



THE HOLT SEPULCHRE. 141 

ment 1 This oratory is now represented by the »di- 
cula,'or little chapel, containing the Holy Sepulchre 
itself 2 

« He then passed on," says Eusebius, " to quite a 
We space, an area clear and open to the sky, which 
was decorated with a pavement of polished stone, and 
inclosed on three sides with long cloisters running 
round" 3 The colonnade was not continued on toe 
east side, because "on the side facing the entrance to 
the crypt, which looked towards the east, the Basilica 
adjoined."* This feature also is preserved in the pre- 
sent building, for the colonnade of the Rotunda, oo 
yards in diameter, runs round aU the sides of he 
Sepulchre except the east, where is the vestibule of the 
church The only difference is that the Rotunda m 
the time of Constantine, was open to the heavens , but 
is now roofed in, and sustains a lofty dome. It may 
here be remarked that in this quarter of the city the 
Ml slopes from west to east, and consequently in the 
formation of this level area the rock would neces- 
sarily be scarped on the west; and, accordingly, 
Dositheus mentions that on the west side of the 
Sepidchre was the wall only of the mclosure, because 

foprfaL^. F». Const, m. 3o ro.ro 

Zl? V £**&C ^ia, ™Wo tC K aXXo,„o^« 

. See sketch in Bartletfs Jems. 175, and Barclay, 234. _ 

proofs ™«8p»f<»C ^*p«Xsi P o« ^pax^''- 

£• 35 The Lp^o.c and ideate *» '*« 

form of the court. 



4 See passage cited supra, p. 140. _ 

5 alOpiov &va*«rra/iii*v.T- F& O^. m. 35. 



142 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



of the hill 1 ; and at the present day, on the west, the 
rock reaches up to the gallery of the Eotunda. Indeed, 
the entrance on this side was originally from Patriarch 
Street, leading at once into the gallery 2 ; but the door 
has been long closed, though still to be seen. 3 

The Basilica is described by Eusebius as comprising a 
grand nave, and on each side a double aisle with massive 
columns towards the nave, and square pilasters down the 
aisles behind for supporting the galleries. 4 But what is 
most remarkable is that the aisles below were under 
ground, and the gallery only above ground. This pheno- 
menon, unaccountable without reference to the spot itself, 
is a strong confirmation of the identity of the present 
church with that of Constantine, for not only at the west 
end of the Eotunda, but also along the south side and in 
parts of the north, the area of the church has been ex- 
cavated. " To the present day the rock rises 15 feet on 
the southern side of the site, and is exhibited on all sides, 
proving that the floor of the church must have been 
artificially sunk so much below the general surface." 5 

"But three gates, well disposed towards the same 
rising sun, received the multitudes of those proceed- 
ing within." 6 These gates have been usually placed 
at the east end of the Basilica, but they were more 
probably at the western end. Gates may be described 

1 iytt b vaog tov ayiov Kara jjlev ttjv hvtrtv, dia to eivai opoc, 
fxovov rolyov aWov. — Dositheus, ii. i. 7. 

2 Holy City, ii. 204. 

3 See view of it in Vogue, p. 209, and Bartlett's Jerus. Revisit. 
91. 

4 afx(fi ci' kicaTzpa ra 7rX£vpd diTTwv (ttou>v, avayt'novTE koX /cara- 
yetojv didvfioi irapaaTaZeg. — Vit. Const, iii. 37. 

5 Holy City, ii. 248. 

6 itvXai lie Tpeig irpoq uvtov aviff^ovTa rjXiov ev ^Latcetfierai tcl 
irXriBr} tu>v ektoj (f>£pofxeV(t)v vitehi-^ovTo. — Vit. Const, iii. 37. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



143 



as directed towards either the quarter of the heavens 
which they face or that to which they lead. The ex- 
pression " well disposed towards the rising sun" seems 
to rather indicate that they led inwards towards the 
east, and this is confirmed by some further considera- 
tions. The words are, not irfog dvio-xovrct faiov, but 
wmg aurlv dvirrx^ra p.i*v, " towards this same rising 
sun." Eusebius had said before that on the east side 
of the Eotunda was the Basilica, and he now repeats that 
the gates of the Basilica were towards the same east that 
he had before referred to, i. e. the east as regards the 
Eotunda, and not as regards the Basilica. Eusebius, 
also, is apparently taking each object successively in 
his progress from west to east. As the gates come first 
in the description, and then the apse is spoken of as 
opposite the gates, we should place the gates on the west 
and the apse on the east. Again, after explaining the 
apse, which he places opposite to the gates, he proceeds : 
« But advancing thence [i. e. from the apse] to the ap- 
proaches [on the east]" &C. 1 ; so that the apse was ap- 
parently situate at the end of the Basilica next the 
approaches, i. e. at the east of the Basilica. Besides, 
the apse and the altar were invariably in that age 
situate at the eastern end, as in the Church of the Na- 
tivity at Bethlehem, built about the same time by the 
same emperor, Constantine. 2 The apse or semi-dome 
at the eastern end of the Basilica reached to the same 
height as the nave, and was supported by twelve 
columns with silver capitals after the number of the 
twelve apostles, and was regarded, from containing the 
altar, as the crown of the whole. 

What, then, is the present state of things ? The 

1 ivQev U TrpoiovTiav, etc. — Vit. Const, iii. 39. 

2 Vogue, 157, 54. 



144 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, 



church has a grand nave and a double aisle on each 
side, and at the eastern end is the apse. Modifica- 
tions in detail have no doubt been introduced from time 
to time, but notwithstanding the changes of plan intro- 
duced in successive centuries, and though the building 
itself has been repeatedly destroyed, the type of the 
church remains as originally described. 

" But advancing thence to the approaches which lay 
before the Temple, the open sky succeeded. But they 
[the approaches] were here on each side 1 , and then the 
entrance-court, and after that cloisters, and after all the 
gates leading to the court ; after which, in the very 
midst of the wide market-place [or in the very midst of 
the street of the market], the propykea of the whole, 
splendidly decorated, afforded to the passers-by a 
glimpse of the wonders within." 2 

These " approaches lying before the Basilica" must 
mean something more than the mere doorways, and 
accordingly, at the eastern end of the present dome, 
the ground sinks rapidly, so that the building could 
not have extended further in that direction, and the 

1 The common reading is i\(jar de kvravdoi^ &c, but the heading 
of the chapter is EKtypaaig /j,e(tciv\eIov kcli e^ecpwv teat TrpoTrvkov, 
whence some have suggested that e^e^pal should be read for zvravdol, 
as otherwise the chapter contains nothing to correspond with the 
prefatory announcement. However, it is not improbable that for 
kvravdo~i should be read eicrodoi, and then the passage would run : " But 
the approaches were on each side, and then the entrance-court, and 
after that cloisters," &c. In Vogue, p. 174, these two stairs, one on 
each side of the apse, will be seen depicted. 

2 evQev oe irpoiorriov iwi rag upd rov veo) KEifiivag elaudovg aiQpiov 
ckfXuju/jaj'er. 'Unav Se EvravQcn [lege elaodai^ 7rap' EKarepa kcu av\i) 
7rpo)rrj, (TTOa'i r £7T< ravrrj^ kai etvl iraaiv at (xvXeioi 7rv\cu " ^eO' ag ett 
avrqg jjiarjg TrXarEtag ayopdg, ra rov Travrog irpoirvXaia (piXoxaXiog 
r)(7Kr]jXEva, rolg ti)v ektoc, iropuav TVOLOVjiEVOtg KarcnrX^KTi^riv 7rapE~iy^ov 
T))y tOjv Evhov bpoyfiEVMV Oeo.}'. — Vit. Const, iii. 40. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



145 



church is now reached on one side of the apse by a 
flight of forty steps. 1 The approaches in front of the 
Basilica were therefore the two flights of steps, one 
in the place of the present stairs on the south side of 
the dome, and the other in a corresponding position on 
the north side of the dome, and both leading down to 
the entrance-court. This entrance-court may be iden- 
tified in part with the court now roofed in and used as 
a chapel, called the Chapel of Helena. But the original 
court extended much farther to the north, as far as the 
Cistern of Helena. The Bordeaux Pilgrim mentions 
that the Basilica had cisterns at the side ; and, if we al- 
low more space to the court northward, the Cistern of 
Helena would he on the north, and what is now known 
as the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, but was 
anciently a cistern, would he on the south. 

The Eotunda 2 , called in Constantine's time the Ana- 
stasis or Eesurrection, and the Basilica called the Mar- 
tyrium, are the only portions of the original buildings 
which are now represented. The cloisters running 
from the court to the propyfea over the market-place, 
and the propylaea themselves, have all disappeared. 

It must not be lost sight of that the propylssa on the 
east fronted the market-place. If we pass from the 
Holy Sepulchre through the church, and thence in an 
eastern direction for just such a distance as we should 
aUow for the court, and then the cloisters and propylasa, 
we arrive at Damascus Street. 3 We know that here was 

1 See Barclay, 280 ; and plan, ib. 

2 TOVTLOV tT aVTlKpV TO KEtyaXaiOV TOV TZCLVTOQ ^JIL(T(j>aiploP i]V, E7T 

aKpov tov BactXetou EKTETa/jivov, etc. — Vit. Const, iii. 39. 

3 It would seem that even so early as the capture of the city by Titus, 
the markets were not improbably located along this thoroughfare : 
Kado Kal T7)Q Kcuvifg ttoXeloq kpioirioXia te i\v cat xaXraca Kal ipaft<av 
ayopa, izpbq 3e to te'l^oq irXayioi KaTETEtvov ol gtevlotto'i. — Bell. v. 8, 1. 



146 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



the market in a.d. 870 \ and along this street are still 
the remains of the bazaars, though now deserted. Four 
columns, the relics of the propylasa, are still to be seen 
in Damascus Street, three under the high bank on the 
west side, and the fourth in the bazaars. 2 Vogue has 
also recently discovered the corner pilaster on the south 
of the propykea, as also the main pilaster at the north- 
west corner of the court, and, by connecting these and 
the columns together, he has shown incontestably the 
configuration of the court of the propylasa. 3 

The present Church of the Holy Sepulchre agrees 
thus in so many particulars with the Basilica of Con- 
stantine, that the coincidence can only be accounted for 
by the identity of the two. Strange as it may seem, 
an attempt has recently been made to prove that the 
Holy Sepulchre is the chamber under the Sukrah, and 
that the Mosque of Omar is the church over the Holy 
Sepulchre, and that the Golden gate is the vestibule 
leading to the Basilica. We have no hesitation in 
pronouncing the hypothesis to be wholly untenable. 
It would exceed our limits to discuss the question at 
length, but the following objections are, in the author's 
judgement, decisive : — 

1. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux states, as we have seen, 
that in going from Sion (the western hill) to the Nablous 
or Damascus gate, he had the Church of the Sepulchre 
on his left hand ; whereas the Mosque of Omar would 
be on his right. 4 

2. The same Palmer describes first the Temple in- 
closure from the Pool of Bethesda on the north to the 

1 " Ante ipsum Hospitale [of St. John] est forum." —Bernard. 
10. See Rob. iii. 166. 

2 Rob. iii. 168. Tobl. Drit. Wand. 343. 

s See a plan of them in Vogue, p. 126. 4 See ante, p. 135. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



147 



substructions on the south, and makes no mention of 
the Basilica. He next makes his exit from the Temple 
platform into the city, and then notices the Basilica. 
And it is clear from this that the Basilica was in the 
city, and not on the Temple platform. The only build- 
ing mentioned on the platform is a certain cedes or 
temple, on the floor of which was still seen the blood of 
Zechariah, who was slain by the altar. The edifice, 
therefore, stood on the site of the Temple of Solomon, 
which identifies it with the Temple of Jupiter, which, 
on the restoration of the city by Adrian, was erected on 
that spot. Of course the cedes could not be the Basilica 
of Constantine, for no one ever dreamed that our Lord 
was buried where the blood of Zechariah was shed, 
that is, in the Temple of Solomon itself, which, at the 
time of the crucifixion, was still standing. 

3. Eusebius, in his " Onomasticon," speaks of the Holy 
Sepulchre as lying north of Sion, that is, of the western 
hill, which, in the time of Eusebius, was so called 1 ; 
whereas the Mosque of Omar stands at the north, not of 
the western hill, but of Ophel, the eastern. 

4. The same writer describes the Sepulchre as erected 
without the city of those who crucified the Lord 2 ; 
whereas the site of the Mosque of Omar was not only 
within the city, but within the Temple platform, the 
main part of the city. This platform must, from the 
nature of the case, have been bounded from the earliest 
times by the Pool of Bethesda on the north, and by a 
great wall, of which the foundations still remain, on the 
east ; and, if so, the site of the Mosque of Omar could 
never have been without the walls. 

5. The chamber under the Sukrah has not the least 



1 See ante, p. 139. 2 See ante, p. 138. 

l 2 



148 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



resemblance to any sepulchre in or about Jerusalem, 
for it contains no loculus or receptacle for a body 1 , 
but, on the contrary, exhibits a round orifice in the 
roof, and another corresponding one in the floor, and 
was therefore in all probability the chamber belonging 
to a draw-well for raising water from the cisterns in 
the Temple platform. 

6. Admitting the cave under the Sukrah to be a 
sepulchre, it was not that over which Constantine 
erected his church, for Eusebius describes the Sepulchre 
as " looking towards the rising sun ;" 2 whereas the 
chamber under the Sukrah is many feet under the 
surface, and therefore looks no way, but is approached 
by a flight of twenty steps at the south-east corner. 

7. Neither could it be the Sepulchre of the New 
Testament ; for how could John, by stooping down, see 
the linen clothes lying 3 , and how could Mary have 
stooped into the Sepulchre and have seen " two angels 
in white, sitting, the one at the head and the other at 
the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain?" 4 

8. According to Eusebius, the church over the Sepul- 
chre had. adjoining it on the east the Basilica 5 : but, if 
we look at the Golden gate, the position of any basihca 
in connection with it must have been considerably to 
the north of the mosque ; and, accordingly, the Basihca 
is drawn by Mr. Fergusson himself, not in a line with 
the mosque, or near to it, but some hundred feet to the 
north of it. 

9. Again, the Basihca, according to Eusebius, lay to 
the east of the Sepulchre, and faced the entrance to it ; 
whereas the approach to the chamber under the Sukrah 



1 Holy City, ii. 196, note. 

3 John xx. 5. 

4 John xx. 11. 



2 See ante, p. 140. 
5 See ante, p. 141. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



149 



is not on the east, but at the south-east corner, and the 
Basilica is not to the east of the mosque, but to the 
north-east of it. 

10. The Basilica was built in an excavation, so that 
the lower floor of the aisles was under ground 1 ; but the 
Mosque of Omar is built on an eminence. 

11. The vestibule of the Basilica terminated east- 
ward at a market-place 2 , but the Golden gate terminates 
eastward at a cemetery. The existence of a market at 
the east of the Haram is, in the words of Mr. Willis, 
" ludicrously impossible." 

12. According to Dositheus, the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre could not be extended further west, because 
of the hill there. 3 But the Mosque of Omar has on the 
west not a hill, but the valley which comes down thither 
from the Damascus gate. 

13. If the Mosque of Omar be the church erected 
by Constantine over the Sepulchre, when did it lose 
that character ? and when did the present church on 
the opposite hill acquire the honour? Through all the 
historical records from that time to this, and they are 
voluminous enough, there is not a tittle of evidence, 
and not even a hint, that such a transference was 
ever made. Besides, how was it possible? Streams 
of pilgrims, from the days of Constantine downwards, 
visited yearly the holy shrine of our Lord's burial and 
resurrection, and how could they have made a mistake? 
Was it ever read or heard of, that any single pilgrim, in 
any age, visited the Sukrah as the site of our Lord's 
sepulchre ? 

The argument chiefly insisted upon by Mr. Fergusson, 
the only writer who has ventured to maintain this 

1 See ante, p. 143. 2 See ante, p. 144. 3 See ante, p. 141. 



150 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



opinion, is that from architectural indicia the Mosque 
of Omar must have been a Christian edifice, erected in 
the first half of the fourth century. We do not admit 
the fact 1 ; but supposing it to be so, does it follow that 
the mosque was built by Constantine ? The emperor 
died in a.d. 337, and the mosque may have been built 
by Constantine's successor, stiU in the first half of the 
fourth century. When the Eoman world became 
Christian, new churches for many years were con- 
tinually springing up, and the so-called Mosque of 
Omar may have been one of the number. At what 
precise period it was erected may never be proved, but 
it is clear to demonstration that the author of it was 
not Constantine. The basilicas which were his work 
in Palestine were only four : the basilica over the 
Sepulchre, which, as we have seen, is clearly identical 
with the present church on the western hill ; the basilica 
on Mount Olivet, in honour of the Ascension ; another 
at Bethlehem, over our Lord's birthplace ; and another 
at the vale of Mamre, the dwelling-place of Abraham. 2 
And all these were matter of notoriety, for even the 
Bordeaux Pilgrim, in the short notes of his Itinerary, 
makes mention of all these. Certainly the Pilgrim 
was at Jerusalem in a.d. 333, and Constantine died 
four years later ; but, had any other basilica been 
built by Constantine in the interim, we may be sure 
that Eusebius, the fulsome panegyrist of the em- 
peror, and who survived him many years, would have 
enumerated this as well as the others. Some stress is 
laid on the octagonal form of the Mosque of Omar, as 
indicating rather a sepulchral monument than a church ; 

1 See reasons to the contrary in Bartlett's Jerus. Rev. 163., 

2 Vit. Const, iii. 43. Paneg. Const, ix. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



151 



but the argument is of no value, for not only the 
niausolea and baptisteries of that age, but even the 
basilicas also, were not unfrequently of this form. Thus 
the basilica erected by Constantine at Antioch in Syria 

was octagonal. 1 

It is further maintained by Mr. Fergusson that the 
Golden gate also was erected by Constantine, and, for 
aught I know to the contrary, this may be so ; but it 
never formed the vestibule of a basilica built by Con- 
stantine on the Temple platform. The Golden gate was 
no vestibule at all, but the principal eastern gate of 
the city. It stood by itself, independent of any other 
building ; at least it bears no traces of a former junction 
to any other edifice. 2 If it was the vestibule of a 
basilica, how is it that the vestibule remains so perfect, 
while of the basilica no vestige now exists, or can be 
shown to have ever existed? As the Golden gate lies as 
nearly as possible in a direct line between the present 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the 
Ascension on Mount Olivet, it may have been the 
portal through which the processions passed from one 
great church to the other. It is not a little remarkable 
that if we draw a line across the Temple platform in 
the direction of the north wall of the Temple, which 
was a square 600 feet each way, at the south-west 
corner of the Haram, the Golden gate stands just 
half-way between that line and the northern boundary 
of the Temple platform. This circumstance leads to 

1 TOP EVKTl'ipiOV OliCOP . . . £f OKTCLtdpU jU£> (TVVe(TTWTa ayj^aTU 

— Vit. Const, iii. 50. . 

2 See a view of it, from the north-west, in Bartlett's Jerns. Rev. 
153; from the sonth-west, in Fergusson's Notes on the Holy 
Sepulchre ; and from the east, in Traill's Josephus, ii. 198, and 
Bartlett's Jems. 158 ; and of the interior, in Bartlett's Jems. 159. 



152 



THE HOLY SEPULCHEE. 



the conclusion that when the gate was built the 
church, now the Mosque of Omar, was not standing ; 
and the difference in the style of architecture of the 
two structures leads to the same inference. Our 
conjecture would be, that when the so-called Mosque 
of Omar was built (whether by Christians or infidels), 
the whole platform assumed a consecrated character, 
and that in consequence the Golden gate was then 
closed as an ordinary thoroughfare from the city, and 
the gate of St. Stephen at the north of the platform 
was opened instead. That either the Golden gate, or 
one on its exact site, was standing when the Bordeaux 
Pilgrim was at Jerusalem may be deduced from this, 
that after surveying the Temple platform and the ob- 
jects of interest about it, and then making his exit 
westward, he, apparently after traversing the city, re- 
turns again to the platform, and proceeds thus : — " Also 
as you go from Jerusalem at the gate which faces the 
east, to ascend Mount Olivet, is the valley which is 
called Jehoshaphat. On the left hand are vineyards, 
and also the stone where Judas Iscariot betrayed 
Christ. But on the right hand is the palm-tree from 
which the children took branches and strewed them 
before Christ. Not far from thence, about a stone's 
throw, are two monuments of wonderful beauty. In 
one, a true monolith, is buried the prophet Isaiah ; and, 
in the other, Hezekiah king of the Jews." 1 

1 11 Item ab Hierusalem euntibus ad portam quae est contra orien- 
tem, nt ascendatur in montem Oliveti, vallis quae dicitur Josa- 
phath. Ad partem sinistram, ubi sunt vineas est et petra ubi Jnda 
Scarioth Christum tradidit. A parte vero dextra est arbor palmar, 
de qua infantes ramos tulerunt et venienti Christo substraverunt. 
Inde non longe, quasi lapidis missum, sunt monumenta duo monu- 
biles mirge pulehritudinis facta. In unum positus est Isaias Pro- 
pheta, qui est vere monolitus, et in alium Ezekias rex Judasorum." — 
Itin. Hieros, 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



153 



Observe here that he speaks of the eastern gate as 
if there were one only, and that, on his exit from the 
gate, the stone where Judas betrayed our Lord, that is, 
the garden of Gethsemane, was on the left hand, and 
the monuments then called the tombs of Isaias and 
Hezekiah, but now of Absalom and Zedekiah, were on 
the right. This would be exactly the case if he went 
out of the Golden gate, for then Gethsemane would 
be on his left hand and the monuments on his right ; 
but, had the eastern gate of the city been St. Stephen's 
gate, the garden of Gethsemane would have been not 
on his left, but the garden and the monuments would 
both have been on the. right. 

We shall assume, then, that the present Holy Se- 
pulchre is identical with that over which Constantine 
erected his church. But here the question arises, Was 
the sepulchre so honoured by the emperor the veri- 
table one in which the body of our Lord was de- 
posited ? This, it may be said, may have been the 
honest belief of Constantine and the ecclesiastics of the 
day ; but had they the means of ascertaining the fact 
with any reasonable degree of certainty ? 

All the notices in the New Testament respecting the 
crucifixion point, as we have shown before, to this 
part of the city. It was without the walls ; it was 
near the palace of Pilate, by whom our Lord was 
condemned ; and it was beside the great thoroughfare 
along the foot of the second wall, from the north to 
Pseudo-Sion, so that passers-by could witness the last 
agonies, and make their profane comments. 
"Not only so, but how could tradition have gone 
wrong in the time of Constantine, just three hundred 
years after the crucifixion ? I readily adopt the remark 
of an acute writer, that during the first three centuries 



154 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



after Christ a legend was not so easily invented as a 
few centuries later, and that men who tried the experi- 
ment would have only been laughed at for their pains. 1 
Jerusalem was the birthplace of Christianity, which 
spread itself in successive circles round it to Judsea, 
and thence to Syria, and thence to the ends of the 
world. How could it be that Christian communities 
in and about Jerusalem could ever lose sight of the 
hallowed spot where was enacted the great event on 
which all their hopes rested, — the very keystone, in fact, 
of their religion? The place of the martyrdom of 
Stephen, or of the conversion of St. Paul, might well 
be shifted, as they have been, from one spot to another ; 
but the tomb of Christ — the Martyrium, as it was 
called, of His resurrection — was too deeply imprinted 
in the memory to offer an opening to the practice of 
fraud. 

There were also particular circumstances connected 
with the tomb which would serve to stereotype it in 
men's minds, and at the same time preserve it from spo- 
liation. Eusebius states that " Impious men (or rather 
the whole race of demons by their instrumentality) ap- 
plied themselves to deliver over that divine monument 

of immortality to darkness and oblivion These 

godless and impious men, I say, were minded to cause 
the Saviour's tomb to vanish from the sight of men, 
thinking thus, in their foolish reasoning, to hide away 
the truth. With this view, having with great labour 
brought soil thither from the parts round about, they 
cover up the whole place, and having raised it to a 
great height and laid a stone pavement, they conceal 
the Holy Sepulchre beneath under the mass of earth. 



Fergusson, 82. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



155 



Then, as if nothing more remained, they erect upon 
the surface what was in truth a sepulchre of souls, by 
building a dark haunt of dumb idols to Venus the 
goddess of Lust." 1 When this temple was erected is 
not said, but the common opinion is that it was at the 
restoration of the city by Hadrian ; and, if so, the site 
of the Holy Sepulchre must surely have been known 
at that time, and the very temple itself would thence- 
forth be a standing witness of the treasure concealed 
under it. In the days of Constantine not the least 
doubt was entertained where the Sepulchre was situate, 
but the only hesitation was, whether, by removing 
the temple, the Sepulchre itself could be recovered. 
The attempt was made, the temple was taken away, 
and the substrata removed, until the natural surface of 
the rock was reached, when, to their great joy, and 
beyond their most ardent hopes 2 , the very Sepulchre 
came to light. The emperor and his coadjutors might 
certainly be mistaken ; but as the Sepulchre was known 
to be under the Temple of Venus, the area to be ex- 
plored was very small, and it is not likely that more 
than one tomb would answer the description, more 
particularly as the Sepulchre, from the notices of it in 
Scripture, had some remarkable and characteristic 
features. 

It is highly probable, from the repeated destruction 
of the churches over it that no part of the Sepulchre 
itself now remains ; but the devastation in every case 
was merely temporary, and the original form of the 
Sepulchre would naturally be preserved throughout, and 
if we look to the general character of a Jewish tomb at 
that period, or to the notices respecting it contained in 



1 Euseb. Vit. Const, iii. 26. 



2 lb. 30. 



156 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



the New Testament, we shall find the present Sepulchre 
in every way to correspond. 

From the multiplicity of ancient tombs still existing 
in and about Jerusalem, we are enabled to sketch their 
ordinary features with great accuracy. " A doorway 
in the perpendicular face of the rock," says Eobinson, 
" usually small and without ornament, leads to one or 
more chambers excavated from the rock, and commonly 
upon the same level with the door. In order to obtain 
a perpendicular face for the doorway, advantage was 
sometimes taken of a former quarry, or an angle was 
cut in the rock with a tomb in each face, or a square 
niche or area was hewn out of the rock, and then tombs 
excavated in all three sides." 1 " The Jewish sepul- 
chre," says Barclay, " was a small room excavated in 
the solid rock, and provided with several receptacles for 
the dead. They were occasionally provided with an 
ante-room, and were susceptible of unlimited enlarge- 
ment by adding room to room in the rear, or at the 
sides, or below The position of the door in re- 
ference to the room was very irregular, the workmen 
having evidently paid more regard to the grain and 
flaws of the rock than to the symmetry of the room." 2 
The door, usually square, was too low to admit a person 
standing 3 , and was about three feet, more or less, each 
way. 4 After passing the door was a small sepulchral 
chamber (sometimes, but not commonly, preceded by an 
ante-room), and this chamber was not itself the recep- 
tacle for the dead, but gave access to the loculi or 
niches in which they were deposited. There were two 
very different modes of arranging these loculi. In one 



1 Eob. i. 352. 
3 Schultz, 97. 



2 Barclay, 181. 

4 See Holy City, ii. 144. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



157 



they branched off perpendicularly from the sides of 
the chamber, as in Fig. 1. In the other case the 
loculi were shallow and hewn out of the sides of the 
sepulchre, on each side one, and were parallel to the 

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 




sides, while opposite the door was a smaller niche, as if 
for the body of a child or for a lamp, as in Fig. 2. 
The circumstances which would regulate the adoption of 
the one or the other mode are obvious. The former 
admitted of the larger number of loculi, and was ac- 
commodated to a family, while the latter form of 
tomb could receive only two or three. The difference 
of expense would thus be considerable, and accord- 
ing to Schultz the former plan was that commonly 
in use amongst the poorer, and the latter amongst the 
wealthier, class. 1 

The entrances to the sepulchral chambers were closed 
by stone doors, which sometimes swung on stone hinges, 
and were sometimes detached so as to be taken off or 
fastened on as occasion required. But about the time of 
our Lord's crucifixion there prevailed another and very 
singular mode of securing the door, viz. by a thick cir- 
cular stone, like a heavy millstone, which moved along 
a groove cut laterally in front of the sepulchre ; and 
which,, when the tomb was to be closed, was rolled 
sideways to the mouth of the sepulchre, and, when 
admission was wanted, was rolled back. Fortunately, 

i Schultz, 98. 



158 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



in the Tombs of Helena, or, as they are now called, the 
Tombs of the Kings, we have a remarkably well preserved 
specimen of this machinery ; and by inspecting the an- 
nexed ground-plan and section taken from Tobler, and 
the view of the approach from Barclay, the reader 
cannot fail to perfectly understand the whole scheme. 
The trouble of following the details will be repaid by 
the light they throw on the New Testament. 

The only other circumstance which we shall notice 
respecting the Jewish tombs is that in front of the door- 
way was commonly excavated a square open court, 
which was levelled, and, as we may presume, planted 
with funereal shrubs. There are traces of this to be 
found in the most ancient times, even under the Jewish 
monarchy. Thus Uzziah, being a leper, was not buried 
"with his fathers," but " in the field of the burial of the 
kings 1 ," and by " the field " is not improbably meant the 
open plat in front of the sepulchre ; so, when it is said 
that Manasseh and Amon were buried in the garden of 
Uzza 2 , it is not unlikely that the sepulchral garden is 
intended. At what is called the Grotto of Jeremiah, 
the site of an ancient burial-place, the area in front is 
90 feet square, and is still cultivated as a garden 3 , and at 
the Tombs of Helena, or of the Kings, the court is nearly 
a square, being 92f feet by 87 feet 4 , and also planted 
with shrubs 5 ; and numerous other instances might be 
mentioned. There is usually in these courts, in front of 
the sepulchre, a cistern, the use of which was probably 
to water the plants in this little cemetery. 

Let us now pass in review the few scattered no- 

i 2 Cliron. xxvi. 23. 2 2 Kings xxi. 18, 26. 

3 Barclay, 191. Tobl. Top. ii. 193. 4 Rob. i. 357. 

5 See a view of this court in front of the tomb, in Bartlett's 
Jerus. 127. 



VIEW OE ENTRANCE TO THE TOMBS OE THE KINGS, 
(fern Barclays "City of the Great King") 




E Steps / j) 

F Side/ approach to Bisk I 
G- Iassag& in -dm vesabitle to the entrance to the tombs 



H The, Dish \ 
I Tlie> CoverUdj \ 
K. The entrance' to the tombs X. 

A 




10' o' 10' 



LoruLoiv, Longman & Co. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



159 



tices in the New Testament illustrative of our Lord's 
Sepulchre. 

1. In the first place the tomb is said to have been 
hewn out of the rock. 1 This, at Jerusalem, would be 
matter of course, and affords but little light : it would 
not even indicate whether the tomb was excavated 
downward, as with the graves of the present day, or 
laterally, as was the custom of the Jews. But there are 
several other circumstances which leave no doubt upon 

this point ; for, 

2. When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, 
members of the Sanhedrim, who, by their influence 
with Pilate, obtained possession of the body of J esus, 
had swathed it in fine linen, with myrrh and aloes, and 
deposited it in the tomb, they rolled a great stone to 
the mouth of the Sepulchre. 2 And again, when the 
two Marys, viz. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother 
of James and Joses, went with spices at the first dawn 
after the sabbath to anoint the body of J esus, they said 
to one another by the way, " Who wMroll away for us 
the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre ? And when 
they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: 
for it was very heavy." 3 " For the angel of the Lord 
descended from heaven, and came and rolled hack the 
stone from the door, and sat upon it." 4 Here then we 
learn that the excavation of the tomb was lateral, for 
the mouth of it was closed by the same curious machi- 
nery as is still seen in the Tombs of the Kings, viz. by 
a circular stone moving along a groove in front of the 
tomb, and wheeled backwards and forwards, but not 

1 XeXarofitifiivov h Trjg irerpag. — Mark xv. 46. Matt, xxvii. 60. 

Luke xxiii. 53. 

2 Matt, xxvii. 60. Mark xv. 46. 

3 Mark xvi. 3. Luke xxiv. 2. 4 Matt, xxviii. 2. 



160 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



without great exertion. It is also to be remarked that 
the angel sat on the stone, and therefore it did not 
swing upon hinges, for had it been a stone detached 
from the Sepulchre, it would, when removed, have lain 
flat on the ground ; but being a rolling stone, and pre- 
serving its upright position, it formed a natural seat for 
one guarding the mouth of the Sepulchre. 

3. When, on the announcement by Mary Magdalene 
that the Lord had risen, Peter and John ran together 
to the Sepulchre, John, much the younger in age, out- 
ran Peter and came first to the Sepulchre, and " stooping 
down he saw the linen clothes lying ; " 1 and afterwards 
when Mary Magdalene came the second time to the 
sepulchre, she "looked stooping into the sepulchre." 2 
The Greek word in the original is very expressive, for 
it signifies to stoop down one way and to look another. 
Peter and Mary, therefore, standing by the side of the 
door, bent down, and then turned their heads towards 
the mouth of the Sepulchre so as to look into it. Thus 
the tomb was obviously hewn laterally into the rock, 
and the doorway, as usual, was a low one, so that even 
a woman could not look into it standing. 

4. When the two Marys came first to the Sepulchre 
and saw the angel sitting on the stone at the door, they 
were led by him into the tomb itself, " Come, see the 
place where the Lord lay," 3 " and entering into the 
sepulchre they saw a young man sitting on the right 
side ;" 4 and when Peter and John ran together to the 
Sepulchre, John, without entering in, but stooping down 
and looking into the Sepulchre, saw the linen clothes 
lying, but Peter, on coming up, went in and saw not 



1 Tra.paicv\pa£ fiXeiTEi Ke'ifieva ra odovia. — John xx. 5. 

2 7rapeKv\pev tig to fxvt)p.eiov, — John xx. 11. 

3 Matt, xxviii. 6. 4 Mark xvi. 5. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHEE. 



161 



only the linen clothes, but also " the napkin that was 
about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but 
wrapped together in a place by itself ;" 1 and when 
Mary Magdalene afterwards returned by herself to 
weep at the sepulchre, she stooped down, and looking 
into the sepulchre saw " two angels in white sitting, the 
one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body 
of Jesus had lain." 2 Now these passages point clearly 
to the nature of the Sepulchre. As John at the mouth 
of the Sepulchre saw only the linen clothes, but Peter 
on entering in saw the head-gear also folded in a place 
by itself, we may infer that within the door was a se- 
pulchral chamber of larger dimensions, the full view 
of which could not be commanded from the entrance. 
But observe further that Mary Magdalene saw two 
angels, sitting one at the head and the other at the foot 
of the niche in which our Lord's body had been de- 
posited. It is clear then that in this tomb the loculus 
had not been excavated at right angles to the side of 
the Sepulchre, but parallel to it ; for in the farmer case 
no one could have sat upon the loculus, but in the 
latter case it would be a kind of bench on which two 
persons would sit naturally one at the head and the 
other at the foot Another circumstance to be noted 
is that Mary Magdalene, on her first arrival at the tomb, 
saw the young man sitting on the right side of the 
sepulchre ; that is, the loculus in which the body of our 
Lord had been placed was, as you entered the sepul- 
chral chamber, on the right hand. 

5. In the next place the Sepulchre is said to have 
stood in a garden 3 ; and as the tomb was not only nigh 
to the place of crucifixion, but is expressly said to have 



John xx. 7. 



2 John xx. 12 
M 



3 John xix. 41. 



162 



THE HOLY SEPULCHEE. 



been in the place of the crucifixion \ and as it is very un- 
likely that a pleasure-garden should have been formed 
at a scene of public executions, we may surmise that 
by the garden in question nothing more is meant than 
the open court or area commonly excavated in front 
of a sepulchre and planted with funereal shrubs. 
When Mary Magdalene was addressed by our Lord 
after His resurrection, she, without looking up, supposed 
him to be the gardener 2 , which gives the idea of one 
who cultivated the garden ; but the word, in the original, 
signifies the person who had the watch and ward of 
the garden, viz. for preventing injury to the Sepulchre. 

How far, then, does the present Holy Sepulchre cor- 
respond with the character of an ancient Jewish tomb, 
or with the particulars which we have passed in review 
concerning the Sepulchre of our Lord ? We must re- 
mark, in limine, that a resemblance only in the nature 
of the ground and in the general outline can be ex- 
pected. For, first of all, when the Temple of Venus was 
erected on the spot, the Sepulchre can scarcely have 
escaped injury ; and again, in a.d. 614, when Jerusalem 
was taken by the Persians under Chosroes II., the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre was burnt with fire 3 ; and again, 
about a.d. 1010, when that visionary fanatic, the Fati- 
mite Khalif Hakim, razed the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre to its foundations, he wreaked his fury upon 
the Holy Sepulchre itself 4 If, therefore, the Sepulchre 
were presented to us unscathed, the very integrity of it 
would be an argument against its genuineness. What, 
then, in few words, is its present state ? 

1 i]V C)£ EV rw T07TW, OTTOV EffTCLVpwdr}, Kfj7TOQ . . . EyyVQ *)V TO jJ.PT]- 

jjielov. — John xix. 41, 42. 

2 KrjTrovpuc. — John xx. 15. 

s Rob. i. 387. . 4 Rob. i. 395. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



163 



1. You enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the 
south, and the Eotunda is on the left-hand, or west. 
In the centre of the Eotunda is a small isolated oblong 
chapel, 26 feet long and 18 broad, square at the eastern 
end, and polygonal at the western, containing the 
Sepulchre itself. The access is at the eastern end of 
the chapel, and first is a small ante-room, the Chapel 
of the Angel 1 , which is confessedly no part of the origi- 
nal Sepulchre, but the creation of some architect for the 
sake of effect. From the ante-room, alow narrow door 
conducts into a quadrangular chamber, having a wall close 
at hand on the left, and an open space, just room enough 
for standing, in front ; and on the right a kind of altar, 
2 feet 10 inches high, occupying more than half of 
the whole chamber, and encasing the sepulchral couch 
where the body of our Lord was laid. The dimensions 
of the whole chamber are 6 feet 8 inches in length, 
6 feet 1 inch in width, and 8 feet 6 inches in height. It 
is nearly square, but not exactly so, the north-east and 
north-west angles being slightly acute, and the south- 
east and south-west angles slightly the reverse. The 
surface of the chamber is so covered with decoration, 
and begrimed with the smoke of the lamps which are 
continually kept burning, that no one can tell whether 
the material be rock, or plaster, or marble, though, 
formerly, the rocky surface was said to be observable 
about the door of the Sepulchre. 2 The situation of the 
Sepulchre is just on the ridge of the rocky hill coming 
down from the north-west in the direction of the Haram, 

1 See view of the Sepulchral Chapel, from the south-east, in Bart- 
lett's Jerus. 174; Vogue, 124; Barclay, 234; and view of the Sepulchre 
itself, through the ante-room and door from the east, in Bartlett's 
Jerus. 175; Barclay, 235. 

2 See Holy City, ii. 160. 

m 2 



164 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



On the west of the church the rock rises to the height 
of the gallery, which was originally entered from the 
street, and at the east end of the church is a flight of 
forty steps. In the natural state of the ground, therefore, 
the Sepulchre in the centre of the Eotunda must have 
been cut in the rock ; and not far from it, at the extreme 
west end of the same church, is another ancient tomb, 
that of Nicodemus, which is unquestionably excavated 
from the rock. The latter tomb has been referred by 
some to the times of the Crusaders,, because on the floor 
are two graves sunk perpendicularly 1 ; but Schultz 
justly remarks that, while these two graves are compa- 
ratively modern, the antiquity of the two loculi which 
have been cut in the rock laterally, and run out hori- 
zontally, cannot with reason be doubted. 2 The tomb 
of Nicodemus cannot, of course, be that of Christ, as 
there is no loculus at the side parallel to the chamber. 

2. Did the present Sepulchre stand in a garden ? We 
have suggested that by a garden was meant the open 
court or area usually excavated in front of a sepulchre ; 
and, if so, we may infer, with great probability, that just 
such a quadrangular space once stood before — that is, 
to the east of— the Holy Sepulchre, for the church is 
built, not upon the natural surface, but in a hollow 
excavated on the south-west and north sides from the 
rock. Constantine, when he erected the edifice, may 
have formed this area ; but there is no statement that 
he did so, but only that the lower side aisles of the 
church were built below the surface of the surrounding 
ground. Singularly enough, a tradition can be traced 
as far back as the fourth century, that the Basilica was 

\ Rob. iii. 18.Q. 

2 Schultz, 97. See a ground-plan of this sepulchre in Tobl. Dritte 
Wand. 273. 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



165 



built on the site of the garden attached to our Lord's 
Sepulchre 1 ; and, if the garden be understood in the 
sense which has been suggested, this must have been 
the case, as, from the slope of the ground, the court or 
square in front of the tomb must have been hollowed 
out and levelled on the east. 

3. From the account of the New Testament, the real 
Sepulchre was entered upon a level There was no 
going down into a subterranean recess, and no going up 
to a tomb cut high in the face of the rock, but the ex- 
pressions are, they went in 2 , or they went out 3 ; and, 
accordingly, the present Sepulchre is approached upon a 
level, and not, like the tomb of Nicodemus, by a descent 
under ground. 

4. The Sepulchre answers not only to the J ewish 
fashion in having a sepulchral chamber, but also to the 
particular feature to be collected concerning our Lord's 
tomb, that the niche or couch in which the body of our 
Lord was laid was not a loculus at right angles to the 
side of the Sepulchre, but parallel to it, so as to form a 
bench or seat when the body was removed. And this 
niche or couch is referred to in the New Testament as 
on the right-hand upon entering the tomb ; and so in 
the present Sepulchre, immediately on passing the door, 
the altar or sarcophagus representing the place of the 
couch or niche is on the right 

5. It may seem, prima facie, an objection to the 
genuineness of the Holy Sepulchre, that while there is 
a loculus on the right-hand or north side, there is no 
corresponding loculus on the left-hand or south side. 
But it will be recollected that the Jews did not construct 

1 Rob. i. 376. 

2 Mark xvi. 5. Luke xxiv. 3. John xx. 6, 8. 

3 Matt, xxviii. 8. Mark xvi. 8. 

m 3 



166 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



their sepulchres as we do our vaults, by completing the 
whole at once. A sepulchre with them was commenced 
by the excavation of a chamber and one loculus or more 
as the immediate occasion required ; afterwards other lo- 
culi were formed as they were wanted, and often, when 
there was no more room for additional loculi, a new 
chamber was opened in front or on the side, or even 
below. What, then, is the Scriptural account of our 
Lord's burial ? That " a rich man of Arimathea, named 
Joseph, . . . laid it [the body of Jesus] in his own new 
tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock," 1 or, as it is 
literally, " in the new tomb of himself," as if it had been 
prepared for the interment of himself only, and there- 
fore contained but one loculus. The absence of a niche 
on the left side of the Sepulchre, instead of being an 
objection, is thus, when duly considered, an argument 
for the genuineness of the Sepulchre. 

We have only to add that the low square entrance into 
the tomb, and the circular stone rolling in a groove to 
open or shut the mouth of the Sepulchre, have long 
since disappeared. But for many centuries the rolling 
stone, or at least the form of it, was preserved, for An- 
toninus Placentinus speaks of the stone in his time as a 
millstone, i. e. of a circular shape, as the original must 
have been. 2 

We now close this lengthened discussion with the 
following conclusions as the result : — 

1. From a priori considerations, we should look for 
the Sepulchre of our Lord in the quarter of the city 
where we now find it. 

2. The Sepulchre, as now exhibited, is certainly 

1 Matt, xxvii 57, 60. 

2 " Petra vero monumenti velut molaris est." — Anton. Placent. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



167 



identical with that over which Constantine erected his 
church. 

3. The present Sepulchre, whether it retain or not 
any fragment of the original tomb, marks at least the 
spot where the body of our Lord was laid. 



We now hasten on to the investigation of the third 
wall, the course of which is thus described by Jose- 
phus : " The commencement of the third wall was the 
tower Hippicus, whence stretching as far as the northern 
quarter to the tower Psephinus, then reaching over 
against the Tombs of Helena, Queen of Adiabene, and 
mother of King Izates, and running along across 
the Eoyal Caverns, it turned with a corner tower at 
what is called the Fuller's Monument, and ended by 
joining the old ambit at the so-called Cedron ravine." 1 

Various have been the opinions upon the direction of 
this wall. Some carry it far away north along the 
brink of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, by the Tombs of 
the Kings, which they identify with the Eoyal Caverns ; 
others draw it across the swell of ground on the north 
of the city, about half-way between the Damascus gate 
and the Tombs of the Kings ; others identify it with 
the present north wall of the city. Let us endeavour 
first, if we can, to trace the wall itself from existing 
remains. This will be the best evidence ; and, if we 
can satisfy ourselves that the course of the wall can 
thus be followed, the notices in Josephus must either 
be reconciled with the result or rejected as erro- 
neous. 

It is admitted on all hands that before the erection 
of the third wall by Agrippa the Temple platform lay 

1 Bell. v. 4, 2. 

M 4 



168 TIME OF THE HERODS. 

exposed on the north, that is, was not covered by the 
city wall. If, therefore, we find a Jewish wall run- 
ning northward along the brink of the Valley of Jeho- 
shaphat from the north-east corner of the Haram, we 
may conclude with moral certainty that it is the wall 
of Agrippa. 1 Now, between the north-east corner of 
the Haram and the north-east corner of the city, are 
five towers 2 , and at the third tower from the Haram 
are bevelled stones, six and seven feet long, resting 
on the rock itself, and which apparently have never 
been disturbed ; and between the third and fourth- 
towers commences a trench excavated in the rock, 
and running up to the north-east corner of the city. 3 
Can it be doubted that here are the vestiges of Agrippa's 
wall? The size and bevelling of the stones, and the 
accompanying fosse, all point to this conclusion. On 
arriving at the north-east corner of the city, we stop 
and ask, Did the wall here continue northward or turn 
westward ? From a strong desire to give the largest 
dimensions to the ancient city, travellers have examined 
over and over again the ground to the north of the 
present city wall, in the hope of tracking Agrippa's 
wall in that direction ; but no one pretends to have found 
there any token of a wall, much less one of bevelled 
stones with a fosse. 4 As the whole of the third wall 
was admirable for its strength 5 , can it be supposed 
that if the wall ran northward beyond the present 
limits, both foundations and trench should so utterly 

1 The Gihon Valley wall of Manasseh could not have extended so 
far north, and, besides, the course of the Gihon Valley wall is very 
uncertain. 

2 Tobl. i. 66. 3 Tobl. i. 58, 53. 

4 Tobl. i. 118, 122. Eob. i. 315; iii. 188. 

5 davfjtaawv ds ovtoq 6\ov tov rpirov rziyovQ. — Bell. v. 4, 3. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



169 



have disappeared as not to have left, by some accident, 
a single remnant behind ? 

Let us now try back and see if Agrippa's wall 
turned at the north-east corner with the present city 
wall, to the west. We have already observed that 
along the eastern side a trench runs at the foot of the 
wall from the third tower to the corner. On reaching 
the corner, the trench still cut in the rock deflects with 
the wall to the west ; and, as the trench is probably 
coeval with the original wall, a strong inference arises 
that the wall of Agrippa here also turned westward, 
more particularly as the fosse is not continued north- 
ward. Not only so, but, according to J osephus, at the 
north-east corner of the wall was a tower, and at the 
north-east corner of the present wall are the remains of 
an ancient tower, the most colossal after those at the 
north-west corner of the city. 1 

From the north-east corner to Herod's gate are three 
towers, and between the second and third from the 
corner are ancient bevelled stones, but not such as 
in the opinion of Tobler are necessarily referable to 
the age of Agrippa. But at the second tower from 
Herod's gate, that is, to the east of it, are stones more 
than eight feet long, and bevelled, and of unquestion- 
able antiquity. 2 

Herod's gate itself does not appear to present any 
ancient remains, though, as it is situate in a depression 
between Bezetha hill on the west and a corresponding 
rise on the east, there was probably always a portal at 
this point. 

From Herod's gate to Damascus gate are now five 

1 Kraffi, 47. 

2 Tobl. i. 59. Krafft (46) also speaks of remains of a great tower, 
a hundred and twenty -five steps from the north-east corner. 



170 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



towers, and along this reach at least three ancient 
towers have been traced : one at fifty steps east of 
Damascus gate ; a second more to the east still, where 
the wall makes a slight bend ; and the third between that 
and Herod's gate, at a hundred steps west of the latter, 
where the beautiful capital of an ancient column has 
been wrought into the wall. 1 Not only so, but, at the 
foot of the wall in which these remains are found, a deep 
fosse excavated in the rock has been carried from the 
Damascus gate eastward to the point where Bezetha hill 
attains its greatest height, and there a deep escarpment 
of the rock renders any fosse unnecessary. 2 Bezetha 
and the hillwL the north, under which is now the Grotto 
of Jeremiah, were originally one unbroken ridge ; but 
the space between the grotto and the city wall has 
been cut away by quarrying through successive cen- 
turies, and the line of the wall now stands on the 
northern brow of the hill of Bezetha 3 , and the rock 
at the summit has a perpendicular fall of great depth, 
which thus answers all the purposes of a trench. 
KrafFt suggests that the fosse was commenced by 
Agrippa and left unfinished at the crown of Bezetha 
on receipt of an interdict from Claudius against the 
further prosecution of the work 4 ; but the real ex- 
piation is, that the fosse ends where the natural defence 
of the rock begins. 5 

We come next to the Damascus gate ; and here are 
most unquestionable remains of an ancient wall. As 

1 Krafft, 46. The last remains are said to consist of " colossale 
quadrosubstructionen," but the two former " aus festern Kittge- 
mauer." 

2 See view of the excavation along the north wall, Traill's Jose- 
phus, i. 105. 

3 Rob. i. 266; iii. 190. 4 KrafFt, 45. 5 Rob. iii. 191. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



171 



you enter the gate there stands on the left or east side 
" a square dark room adjacent to the wall, the sides 
of which are entirely composed of stones having pre- 
cisely the character of those still seen at the corners 
of the Temple area, — large, bevelled, with the whole 
surface hewn smooth. Connected with this room 
on its west side is a winding staircase leading to the 
top of the wall, the sides of which are of the same 
character." 1 These foundations are in the same line 
with the wall which we have followed all along from 
the north-east corner of the Temple area, and there- 
fore presumptively formed part of the third wall. 2 
The existing Damascus gate is flanked by a tower on 
each side, and in the eastern one are the remains above 
described. In the western tower no corresponding 
masonry has been observed 3 , but we may assume that 
an ancient tower once stood on that site. 

At the distance of 100 feet to the west of the western 
tower 4 are again found indisputable traces of an ancient 
tower. Here, as at the Damascus gate, is a guard- 
chamber of large bevelled stones hewn smooth, and " at 
the bottom of the half archway, on the extreme right, 
appears the under side of a flight of steps, cut off at the 

1 Rob. i. 313. 

2 The antiquity of the gate will be at once recognised from an 
examination of the plates of it in Bartlett's Jems. Rev. 187 ; Bar- 
clay, 132 ; and see ground-plan in Tobl. Dritte Wand. 340. 

3 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 340; Rob. i. 313; but see Krafft, 42; 
Traill's Josephus, xlviii. ; Tobl. Top. L 58 ; Murray's Handbook 
for Syria, p. 109 ; which speak of a corresponding ancient chamber 
in the western tower. 

4 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 340. In Traill's Jos. xlvii. it is said 
"100 yards" which is apparently a clerical mistake; for the writer 
immediately afterwards places the spot " at the distance of a few 
paces towards the west." 



172 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



third step, and belonging, as it seems, to the ancient, 
not to the modern, portion of the building." 1 " Of these 
stones," says Eobinson, " one measured 1\ feet long by 
31 feet high, and another 6JL feet long by a like height. 
Some of them are much disintegrated and decayed, but 
they all seem to be lying in their original places, as if 
they had never been disturbed or moved from the spot 
where they were first fitted to each other." 2 Tobler, in 
his Third Journey, furnishes a ground-plan of the tower 
in which this ancient masonry is found, and adds that 
it must have stood north-west and south-east, i. e. in a 
wall having the same direction as the present northern 
wall. 3 

From Dr. Wilson we learn that at the distance of 
300 feet from the Damascus gate, and therefore beyond 
the ruins of the tower last spoken of, " the wall for some 
extent above its foundation bears, in the magnitude and 
peculiarity of its stones, the evidence of great anti- 
quity." 4 But at the end of the 300 feet the continuity 
of the ancient remains ceases, and here therefore we 
break off for the present, and shall endeavour to trace 
the course of the third wall from its western commence- 
ment at the tower Hippicus. 

All are agreed that from Hippicus, now the Castle of 
David, at the Jaffa gate, the third wall ran in a north- 
west direction, as far at least as the north-west corner of 
the present city. A fosse which runs along the exterior 
indicates the general direction. 5 Several circumstances, 

1 Traill's Jos. xlvi. 

2 Rob. i. 313. An accurate view of these interesting remains 
will be found in Traill's Josephus, p. xlviii. 

3 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 340, 341. 

4 Lands of the Bible, vol. i. 421. Rob. iii. 219. 

5 Tobl. Top. i. 71. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



173 



however, lead to the inference that the third wall did 
not, along this part, pursue the exact line of the present 
wall ; for the towers at the north-west corner show no 
traces of Jewish masonry, and yet rest upon a founda- 
tion of rock, and the remains called Kalah el JalM, 
or the Giant's Castle, at the north-west angle of the 
present city, which belong unquestionably to the third 
wall, do not stand in the present wall, but within it, at 
the distance of about 12 paces from it 1 , and, as they 
He north and south, are not even in the same direction 
with the present wall, which ranges south-east and 
north-west. 2 

Kalah el JalM, or the Giant's Castle, is a square solid 
tower, 60 feet by 48 feet, and 20 feet high 3 , and is the 
tower called, in the time of the Crusaders, Tancred's 
Tower. The structure itself does not suggest any great 
antiquity, and cannot be at all referred to the time of 
the Herods. But " at the south-west corner of the 
mass, near the ground, are three courses of large bevelled 
stones, rough-hewn, passing into the mass diagonally in 
such a way as to show that they lay here before the 
tower and bastion were built." 4 KrafFt suggests that 
because the ancient stones run into the tower diagonally 
the ground-plan of the original fortification must have 
been "octagonal" and therefore identical with Psephinus, 
which was octagonal 5 ; and, if we could acquiesce in 
the view that Kalah el Jalud was Psephinus, it would 
follow that here was the north-west corner of the old 
city, and here, therefore, the wall must have tinned 
west. However, it may fairly be objected that the di- 
vergence of the modern edifice from the form of the 
ancient, as indicated by the old foundations, proves only 

i Tobl. Top. i. 67. 2 Tobl. Top. i. 68. 3 lb. 67. 

4 Rob. i. 318; iii. 193. Tobl. Top. i. 66. 5 Krafft, 37. 



174 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



that the modern square building is not a mere restora- 
tion of the old, which was no doubt of a different con- 
figuration, though not necessarily octagonal. The large 
bevelled stones also are far from proving that this was 
Psephinus, for Psephinus in Greek signifies " rubble," 1 
and the tower may have been so called as not built, 
like Hippicus, of regularly hewn stones, but of loose 
materials hastily collected. 

As Kalah el Jalud, or the Giant's Castle, cannot there- 
fore, with any certainty, be identified with Psephinus, 
the question still remains whether the third wall here 
turned to the east, or whether it made a sweep round to 
the north-west, so as to gain the summit of the hill, be- 
fore it bent eastward. 

Let us first see whether any indications of the third 
wall can be found in the line between Kalah el Jalud 
and the Damascus gate. 

To the east of the Giant's Castle, but still at the 
north-west angle of the city, and due north from 
the Latin convent, " are the remains of a wall built 
of large hewn and bevelled stones, and near by are 
blocks so large that we at first, say Tipping and 
Walcott, took them to be the natural rock, but which, 
on closer examination, appear to be bevelled, though 
now dislocated." 2 It is not stated that the bevelled 
stones of the wall are in situ, and as to the blocks hard 
by they are expressly said to be dislocated. The 
stones and blocks, therefore, do not show conclusively 
the line of the original building. Assuming, however, 
that they occupy their primitive places, or nearly so, 
the spot is so close to the north-west angle of the city 
that the third wall, which certainly did not run in the 

1 From \pfj(f)og, calculus. 

2 Rob. iii. 219. Tobl. Top. i. 59. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



175 



precise line of the present wall on the west, but within 
it, may have passed across this point in its direction 
northward, or the third wall may have here made a 
small elbow inwards towards the east, and then again 
have struck off northward. 

It is further noticed by Tipping and Walcott that 
" an unusual proportion of stones between the north- 
west corner of the city and the Damascus gate, as also 
of those used in the adjoining buildings, are ancient and 
bevelled, and we could hardly resist the impression that 
this had been nearly the course of some ancient wall." 1 
To this, however, it may be answered that here again 
the stones are not in situ, and therefore the only infer- 
ence is that the ancient wall stood somewhere in the 
neighbourhood ; and supposing Agrippa's wall to have 
run more to the north, it would be matter of course 
that the materials of the old wall should be brought 
down for the use of the new. 

Again, at the fourth tower from Damascus gate (and 
there are five between the Damascus gate and the 
corner), the rock outside the present city is scarped 
from west to east, with its face to the north, and a little 
to the north is a corresponding scarpment with its face 
to the south ; and hence the inference that a trench once 
ran near the foot of the present line of wall, and, if so, 
that it must have belonged to Agrippa's wall. But, in 
the first place, it is somewhat problematical whether 
the cuttings referred to are vestiges of a fosse ; but 
allowing this to be so, the fosse may have belonged, not 
to Agrippa's wall, but to a wall of the Crusaders. It 
is unquestionable that another wall once stood at the 

i Rob. iii. 219. See Wilson, i. 421. Rob. i. 318; iii. 188. 
Tobl. Top. i. 59, 121. 



176 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



north-west corner of the city, without the present wall, 
and Eobinson, the most competent judge, ascribes it to 
the middle ages. 1 Indeed, in the times of the Crusaders, 
the two walls were both standing at the same time, with 
a strip of open ground between them 2 ; and, as they 
could not both be Agrippa's wall, they thus neutralise 
each other. 

If we advance eastward, about half-way between the 
north-west corner and the Damascus gate, there are 
without the city " several traces of old wall indicating 
a tower or angle, with tolerably large bevelled stones 
and a trench." 3 But bevelling alone is not decisive of 
a Jewish origin, as may be seen in the present western 
wall, for near the north-west corner is a bevelled gate- 
way 4 , but which could not have belonged to the third 
wall, as it lies in a different line from the Giant's Castle, 
which was indisputably part of the third wall. The 
bevelled stones of the tower or angle in question may 
have been an imitation of the old style, or, which is more 
probable, brought from the ancient wall and worked up 
into the new building. Eobinson himself, who notices 
these remains, is of opinion that they belong to the 
mediaeval period. 5 

It must be conceded that if the several ruins which 
we have passed in review do indicate the course of 
an ancient wall at all, they can only be ascribed to 
the third wall, for it is manifest from Josephus that be- 
tween the western limb of the second wall and that of 
the third wall was a wide open area sufficient for an 

1 Eob. i. 318 ; iii. 188, 219. . 

2 Tobl. Top. i. 121. 3 Eob> ^ 188> 

4 Probably the Porta Villas Fullonis of the Crusaders, which lay 
on the west side of the city. See Rob. i. 321. 

5 Rob. iii. 219, 188. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



177 



encampment, so that the remains at the north of the 
Latin convent, and the bevelled stones half-way between 
the north-west corner and the Damascus gate, cannot 
occupy the line of the second wall. 

With the exception of the ruins above the Latin 
convent, which might have stood in the line of 
Agrippa's wall in its northward course, none of these 
remains lead necessarily to the conclusion that they 
belong to a Jewish wall. The materials employed may 
in many cases be of Jewish origin, but they do not rest 
in their original beds, and were probably conveyed 
thither from some older wall in the vicinity. 

The improbability of Agrippa's wall having run in 
the direct line of the present wall, from the north-west 
corner of the city to the Damascus gate, strongly appears 
also from the two following considerations : — 

In the first place, the circuit of Jerusalem is described 
by Josephus as containing 33 stades ; and, if we draw 
Agrippa's wall along the line of the present, we cannot, 
upon a fair measurement, assign to it more than 30 
stades. 

Secondly, the course of the third wall can be actually 
traced a considerable distance beyond the north-west 
corner of the city in a north-westerly direction, and 
as the latter argument, if founded on fact, is decisive, 
we shall examine in detail the evidence on which this 
assertion is based. 

The greatest authority, as usual, is Eobinson. In 
speaking of the high ground at the north-west of the 
city, he observes : — 

« On the east of the path [from the north-west corner to 
the Tombs of the Kings], about half-way between these 
tombs and the north-west corner of the city, we noticed 
foundations which belonged very distinctly to the third 

N 



178 



TIME OF THE HER0DS. 



wall, consisting of large hewn blocks of stone of a cha- 
racter corresponding to other works of those ages. On 
the west of the path, and running up the hill in a line 
with the above, were other similar foundations ; and still 
further up were stones of the like kind, apparently dis- 
placed. By following the general direction of these, 
and of several scarped rocks which had apparently 
been the foundations of towers or the like, we succeeded 
in tracing the wall in zigzags in a westerly course for 
much of the way to the top of the high ground. Here 
are the evident substructions of towers or other fortifi- 
cations, extending for some distance ; and from them 
to the north-west corner of the city the foundation of 
the ancient wall is very distinctly visible along the hard 
surface of the ground." 1 

It will be observed that the foundations of the wall 
are here referred to as distinctly visible from the corner 
of the city to the crown of the hill ; but, according to 
Eobinson, from this culminating point eastward " the in- 
tervening wall is not traceable ; " 2 but at the distance of 
336 feet north 10° east he comes again to foundations 3 ; 
and from the latter spot he suggests two different lines, 
and is doubtful which is the true one. 4 Thus, on reach- 
ing the top of the hill, the course of the wall is lost, or 
is only matter of conjecture. 

Tobler, who examined this quarter with great care, 
agrees with Eobinson that the third wall extended 
north-west beyond the limits of the present city 5 , and 
in his third visit to Jerusalem expresses himself as 
more convinced than ever, from a survey of the locality, 
that the hypothesis was correct. 6 The results of Tobler's 
investigation are these : — 

1 Rob. i. 314 ; and see ib. 310. 2 Rob. i. 315. 3 Rob. i. 315. 
4 Rob. i. 315. 5 Tobl. Top. i. 124. 6 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 341. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



179 



" At the distance," he says, " of 300 paces from the 
north-west corner [of the present city] is, on an elevated 
platform 75 paces square, the ruin of some ancient 
structure, and in the middle is a large cistern." 1 This, 
according to some, must have been the site of Psephi- 
nus. But there are two objections to it : first, the 
platform is certainly square 2 , whereas Psephinus was 
as certainly octagonal; and, secondly, Josephus expressly 
tells us that the cisterns of the towers in Agrippa's wall 
were not at the bottom, but at the top, of the towers. 3 
We may hazard the conjecture that this square area was 
the site of the mansion Villa Pullonis, from which the 
Porta Villas Fullonis, at the north-west corner of the city 
in the time of the Crusaders, took its name. " At 140 
paces," Tobler continues, " further to the north-west are 
ruins which may have belonged to towers ; and then an 
earthwork runs east for 80 paces to the highest spot, 
which commands a fine view to the south-west." 4 From 
this crown of the hill, ruins, at irregular intervals and in 
a zig-zag direction, may be traced towards the north-east 
to a point to which a line drawn from the dome of the 
Holy Sepulchre would run n. 23° w. 5 Here all further 
vestiges entirely cease, though strict search has been 
repeatedly made both to the north and east. 6 I do not 
find, however, that from the crown of the hill the 
ground has been explored towards the south or south- 
east. 

Schultz, another observer, considers the third wall 
as unmistakably traceable to the summit of the high 
ground at the north-west corner of the city, and thinks 
that the octagonal form of the tower Psephinus may be 

1 Tobl. Top. i. 117. 2 Tobl. i. 117. Kraffi, 37. 

3 Bell. v. 4, 3. 4 Tobl. Top. i. 118. 

5 Tobl. Top. i. 118. 6 Rob. i. 315. Tobl. Top. i. 118. 

N 2 



180 



TIME OF THE HEKODS. 



still distinguished. 1 He supposes also that the founda- 
tions of three small towers may be traced beyond this 
at intervals, and that the wall may be followed in a 
north-easterly direction across the path which leads 
to the Tombs of the Kings from the north-west corner 
of the city ; and that the vestiges there cease, because 
Agrippa, when he had carried the wall thus far, received 
an interdict from Claudius against the further prosecu- 
tion of the work. 2 

Krafft, on the other hand, asserts that he had often 
inspected these alleged remains of a wall, and that they 
consist of stones of no size, unhewn, and resting on the 
surface, and without a systematic plan ; and that, in 
short, they could not have belonged to a regular fortifi- 
cation, but must mark the sites of private buildings. 3 
His observations, however, appear to be addressed, at 
least chiefly, not to the remains between the north-west 
corner of the city and the crown of the hill, but to those 
found at irregular intervals in a north-easterly direction 
from the summit. 

Bartlett, in speaking of the direction of the third wall, 
observes : " The vestiges of buildings, and occasional 
appearances as though the rock had been scraped for 
foundations, indicated beyond all doubt the general 
direction of this outer bulwark [the third wall] as far 
as an elevated point where stood the tower of Psephi- 
nus." 4 And again : "If we look at the high ridge just 
without the city wall on the north, beginning at a con- 
spicuous terebinth tree at its north-west angle, we may 
trace the line of the thud wall of the ancient city as far 
as a small Mohammedan tomb." 5 

Upon the whole, then, we should say that the line of 



1 Scluiltz, 62. 2 Schultz, 63. 

4 Bartlett's Jems. Kev. 189. 



3 Krafft, 37. 
5 Ibid. 122. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



181 



the third wall can be traced from the north-west corner 
of the city to the summit of the hill, for so far " the ancient 
wall is very distinctly visible along the hard surface of the 
ground." But as to the remains beyond this point, and 
which are scattered at broken intervals over the hill in 
a north-easterly and easterly direction, we are disposed 
to refer them, not to Agrippa's wall, but either to private 
villas and the inclosures about them, or to the military 
works which on that favourite camping ground must 
from time to time have been erected. On the one hand, 
Josephus mentions that in this very tract, at the north- 
west of the city, the suburb was intersected by garden 
walls 1 , and tessera are frequently picked up in this 
part, proving that the mansions of the wealthy once stood 
there ; and, on the other hand, we read that Titus pitched 
his camp on this very spot, and that walls were thrown 
up round the Eoman entrenchment. 2 

The traces of the third wall clearly cease either at j 
the summit or at a point n. 23° w. from the dome of 
the Holy Sepulchre, or at some intermediate point be- 
tween the two ; and the question therefore arises, What 
was the most probable course of the wall from the 
point where the existing remains end ? We adopt the 
hypothesis that it ran down to the nearest point where 
vestiges of the ancient wall reappear, viz. in the line of 
the present wall at 300 feet west of the Damascus gate. 
Such a sweep of the third wall from the Giant's Castle 
to the summit of the hill, and thence to 300 feet west 
of Damascus gate, would give great force to the passage 
of Tacitus, that the walls of Jerusalem were artfully 
constructed so as to form bays inwards and projections 

1 EtCTETCKppEVTO yhp C17TO TOV TEIXOVQ TTSpi TCIQ KT}TT£lO.Q CLTTCIVTCL 
7TOLQ T£ klTlKapaLOLQ KCU TToXkOLQ EpKEGl %L£L\r)flfXEl>a. Bell V. 2, 2. 

2 rG)V EpvfxaT(ov. — Bell. v. 6, 5. 

N 3 



182 



TIME OF THE IIERODS. 



outwards 1 ; for, while the bend of the first wall round 
the Tyropoeon would well correspond to the inward bay, 
this excrescence of the wall at the north-west corner 
would answer equally to the obliquity of the wall out- 
wards. 

We now proceed to a review of the scattered pas- 
sages in the works of Josephus which may be thought 
to throw any light upon this difficult subject. 

1. In the first place, the historian, as we have al- 
ready noticed, reckons the circuit of the whole city 
at 33 stades 2 ; and if we measure the outer wall 
with this sweep round at the north-west corner to 
the summit of the hill, and thence to a point 300 feet 
west of the Damascus gate, we shall find the result 
19,800 feet, or exactly 33 stades. Could this com- 
putation of Josephus be thrown aside, we should not 
see much objection to the hypothesis of Krafft, that 
the third wall ran in the exact fine of the present 3 ; 
but as all topographers have considered these 33 
stacles to be a cardinal point in determining the course 
of the third wall, we cannot repudiate it as untrust- 
worthy, and therefore have hazarded the conjecture 
that the third wall, at the north-west angle, made a 
detour to the summit of the hill, and then descended 
again south-westward to the vicinity of the Damascus 
gate. 

2. Josephus assigns to the third wall ninety towers, 

1 Tac. Hist. v. 11. 

2 Bell. v. 4, 3. 

3 Drawing the wall on the south of Pseudo-Sion, not along 
the ridge, but lower down, and carrying it on the eastern side of 
Pseudo-Sion to a point not far from Siloam, before it turns up the 
Tyropoeon, and reckoning in the various angles made by the projecting 
towers, we estimate the measurement on Tobler's map just 33 stades. 
Krafft, therefore, may be right. 



THE THIKD WALL. 



183 



and reckons from tower to tower 200 cubits, or 300 
feet. 1 The latter statement is clearly incorrect, as 
30>0 feet multiplied by 90 would yield 45 stades for 
the third wall alone ; whereas the circuit of the whole 
city, according to Josephus himself, was only 33 stades. 
To ascertain what were the spaces between the towers 
we must have recourse to existing remains, and these 
will furnish us with sufficient data. From the east 
flanking tower of Damascus gate, which is unquestion- 
ably the site of an ancient tower, to the ruins of the 
next old tower on the east, is about 100 feet 2 ; and so 
again, from the west flanking tower of the Damascus 
gate to the ruins of the next old tower on the west, is 
also 100 feet. 3 Thus the towers were apparently about 
100 feet apart ; but in taking the general average we 
must make some deduction by reason of the greater 
proximity of the two flanking towers at each gate, 
which of course were both reckoned amongst the ninety 
towers, and yet were much less than 100 feet apart : at 
the Damascus gate, for instance, the space between the 

towers is only 50 feet. 4 

Now the third wall is described as running all the way 
from Hippicus at the Jaffa gate round the northern boun- 
dary of the city, until it effected a junction with the old 
wall at the so-called Cedron ravine on the east of the 
Temple. 5 The so-called Cedron ravine was the slip of 
ground on the west side of the platform between the 
Temple and the city wall, and reached from Bethesda on 

1 tolovtovs fih olv 7rvpyov Q to toItov te1 % oq fye* eve^ovta, Td 
U uerairipyuoL tovtcov &vd tt^S ZiaKoaiov,. - Bell. v. ±,J>. 

2 Krafft, 46. 3 Tobl. Dritte Wand. o40. 

4 Krafft, 42. ^ 

« too he apyaicp 7T£ P </3o\a; avvfarov elg rnv Kedpuva Kakov^vnv 

^apayya KciTeXrjyev. — Bell. v. 4, 2. 

n 4 



184 



TIME OF THE IIERODS. 



the north to Ophla on the south. Josephus, therefore, by 
saying that Agrippa's wall ended at the so-called Cedron 
ravine, may mean either that it ended at the north-east 
corner of the Haram as soon as it touched the so- 
called Cedron ravine, or near the south-east corner of 
the Haram at Ophla, where it met the first wall. 1 Let 
us suppose, first, that Agrippa's waU ended at the 
north-east corner of the Haram ; and then, if we mea- 
sure from the Jaffa gate to the summit of the hill, and 
thence to the north-east corner of the Haram, we shall 
find the distance 8100 feet, or about 90 feet for each 
interval between the towers ; but if we measure from 
the Jaffa gate to Ophla, the length is 9900 feet, or 
about 110 feet for each interval. In either case the 
measurement is not much at variance with the number 
of towers assigned to the third wall. 

3. When Titus had encamped on Scopus, or Prospect 
hill, which was seven stades from the city, he issued 
orders to clear the intervening ground "up to the 
wall," 2 and accordingly his army levelled "all the 
ground from Prospect hill as far as the Tombs of 
Herod, which adjoined what was called the Serpent 
[or Dragon] Pool," 3 now Birket Mamilla, to the north- 
west of the Jaffa gate. When the ground had been 
cleared as far as the Tombs of Herod, Titus himself, with 

1 Bell. v. 4. 2. 

2 irpoatTa^ev klofiaXi'CeLV to f-iexpi tov teixovq diafTTrj/ia. — Bell. 
v. 3, 2. 

3 x^ a l xa ^ v ttoiovv Ttavra tov X^P ov ®-7t6 T °v %K07rov fte'xi 01 tZv 
'Hpw^ov ixvq^ELojv a 7rpoaE~ix £ ffi t&v "Otyewv k-KLK£Ka\ovixivr\ koXv^i- 
fih&pa. — Bell. v. 3, 2. "A short distance south of the upper pool 
(Birket Mamilla) may be seen some large masses of rubbish and 
ruins, covering a few sepulchral caves hewn in the rock" (Murray's 
Handbook to Syria, p. 153); and these are thought to be the re- 
mains of the Herodian mausoleum. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



185 



two legions, proceeded to encamp on the north of the city, 
and directed another legion to take up its quarters on 
the west of the city opposite Hippicus 1 ; and, in order 
to screen the baggage-train on its way from Prospect 
hill to the two camping grounds, Titus arrayed his 
force, not only against the northern, but also against the 
western, side of the city 2 , so that the clearance had 
been made on the west as well as on the north side. 
This leads to the inference that the third wall ran up 
the crown of the hill at the north-west beyond the 
present line of wall, for then the western limb of the 
third wall would have reached beyond the Tombs of 
Herod, and have rendered it necessary for Titus to 
mask with his troops the western as well as the 
northern wall of the city. 

4. When Titus had taken the first wall he encamped 
at the north-west of the city, between the second and 
third walls ; and if the third wall ran, as we have 
supposed, to the crown of the hill, there would be 
sufficient space between the third and the second wall 
for the encampment. The distance from the second 
wall would also be such that the missiles of the J ews 
would occasion no annoyance 3 , more particularly as 
the Jews were not possessed of the powerful engines 
of the Eomans, and were very unskilful in the use of 
those they had. 4 At the same time the camp of Titus 
was not very far from the second wall, for he extended 
his line all the way from the Assyrian camp, which 
lay at the north-west corner of the city, to the Cedron 

1 ? H le kripa fjtolpa rfjg orpanae Kara rbv 'Ittttikov Trpoaayopev- 
devTCt Tvvpyov Tei\l^Tai dieffruxra rfjg noXiiwg ofioiujg Svo (rratiovg. — 
Bell. y. 3, 5. 

2 fcara to flopeiov fcX/jua Kttt Trpdg koiz&pav. — Bell. V. 3, 5. 

3 Bell. v. 7, 3. 4 Bell. v. 6, 3. 



186 



TIME OF THE HEEODS. 



Valley, which lay on the east \ in order, apparently, 
that they might thus be removed as far as possible 
from the reach of the besieged. When the Jews also 
made a sally from the High Town, at the High priest's 
monument by the Pool of Hezekiah, they drove the 
Eomans before them as far as their camp 2 , which must 
have been not far removed from the wall of the High 
Town, or the Jews would not have ventured so far in the 
presence of a superior force, one division of which 
lay on their left flank opposite Hippicus. 

5. The third wall is said, after turning east, to have 
run over against the Tombs of Helena. 3 We agree 
with Eobinson 4 in identifying the Tombs of Helena 
with the present Tombs of the Kings 5 , and the ar- 
guments which we consider conclusive are briefly 
these : — 

a. Jerome, in describing the journey of Paula from 
Lydda to Jerusalem, makes her pass by Gibeah and 
then enter Jerusalem, leaving the mausoleum of Helena 
on the left-hand. 6 Now Gibeah of Saul has been 
proved to be Tuleil-el-Ful, a little way from Jerusalem 
on the east of the great northern road ; Paula, there- 
fore, must have approached Jerusalem by this road, 
which, from the nature of the ground, must always 

1 kiTLtyywv ttSlv to [ietclZv ^if'xpi Kedpcovog. — Bell. v. 7, 3. 

2 The Eomans retired enl to. aTpaToweha, and the Jews followed 
fiixpi- twv epvfjLaTU)^, when the Eomans applied engines from the 
wall of the camp eirl tov te'l^ovq.- — Bell. v. 11, 5. 

3 Bell. v. 4, 2. 

4 Eob. iii. 251. 

5 See views and plans of these tombs in Barclay, 194. Bartlett's 
Jerus. 129. 

6 "In Gabaa urbe usque ad solum diruta paululum substitit . . . 
Ad kevam Mausoleo Helenas derelicto . . . ingressa est J erusolymam 
urbem." — Hieron. Epitaph. Paulce. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



187 



have taken the same line, and, if so, the Tombs of the 
Kings would be on her left-hand. 1 

b? Pausanias, in an exaggerated and legendary style, 
describes the mausoleum of Helena as remarkable for 
its doorway, which was opened and closed by a curious 
mechanical contrivance 2 , and accordingly in the Tombs 
of the Kings we find the entrance from the vestibule 
into the sepulchral chambers answering to this account : 
that is to say, in a groove at the side is a disc of stone, 
which is rolled backward to afford admission, and rolled 
forward for closing the passage. 

c. Josephus mentions that Helena was buried in the 
pyramids 3 , and hence it has been objected that the 
tomb must have been, not a sepulchre excavated in 
the rock, but an erection upon the surface ; but as 
Helena's remains could not have been deposited in more 
than one place, the description can only apply to a 
single sepulchre, and indeed Eusebius speaks of thesjp 
pyramids as vt^ou or cippi\ that is, pillars in the 
pyramidal form. We learn from Josephus the exact 
number of the pyramids, viz. three 5 , and when we 
examine the Tombs of the Kings we see at once the 
explanation. The vestibule of the sepulchre, the part 
which is so familiar to every eye, was formerly supported 
by two columns now broken away, and was thus divided 
into three compartments, and no doubt these three 
cippi or pyramids stood by the side of each other over 
these three portals. If any one will look at the archi- 
tectural remains of Petra, which are of the same age 
with the Tombs of Helena, he will be satisfied what is 
meant by Josephus, as over the rock sepulchres of Petra 

i Eob. iii. 252. 2 Pausan. viii. 16. 

3 Ant. xx. 4, 3. 

4 jj t e. ii. 12. 5 Ant. xx. 4, 3. 



188 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



these pyramids surmounting the entrance are of fre- 
quent occurrence. 

d. It has been objected that in the Tombs of the 
Kings are numerous chambers for the dead (say thirty- 
eight) 1 , which cannot therefore be referred to the se- 
pulchre of Queen Helena alone, but must be the vaults 
of the kings of Judah. But observe that Josephus 
does not speak of the tomb but of the tombs of Helena % 
that is, the mausoleum of the royal family of Adiabene ; 
for it must be remembered that not only Helena but 
also her kindred were resident at Jerusalem, and how 
prolific the race was we may judge from the fact, that 
Izates, son of Queen Helena, had twenty-four sons and 
twenty-four daughters 3 , not to mention that Mono- 
bazus, the brother of Izates, had a palace at Jerusalem 4 , 
and that other relatives of Queen Helena are also 
alluded to 5 , one of whom, Grapte, had likewise a 
palace at Jerusalem. 6 

e. Lastly, it is clear that these tombs are not those of 
the kings of Judah, for they are in a debased style of 
Roman architecture which belongs to the reign of 
Augustus, but cannot be assigned to any earlier period. 7 

In all the topography of the Holy City not any one 
point can be more relied upon, as an established fact, 
than the identity of the Tombs of Helena with the 
Tombs of the Kings ; and the statement of Josephus, 
that the third wall in its direction eastward passed over 
against the Tombs of Helena, is in strict accordance 
with the fact. A spectator standing at the Tombs of the 

1 Tobl. Top. ii. 295. 

2 rdv 'EXfV?;? \ivr\\x.ui))v. — Bell. v. 4, 2 ; v. 2, 2. 

s Ant. xx. 4, 3. 4 Bell. v. 6, 1. 

s Bell. vi. 6, 4. 6 Bell. iv. 9, 11. 

7 Fergusson's Note on the Holy Sepulchre, p. 23. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



189 



Kings would look directly down upon the gate leading 
out of the city to the great north road. 

6. Josephus relates that Titus, on arriving at Jerusa- 
lem, and wishing to reconnoitre the city, rode with a 
body-guard of cavalry along the north road, and then 
turned to the west towards Psephinus ; that so long as 
he kept to the highway no enemy was to be seen, but that 
on his wheeling to the right towards Psephinus the J ews 
sallied out from the Women's Towers, which were over 
against the Tombs of the Kings, and, breaking through 
the body-guard, isolated Titus with a few followers. 1 
These Women's Towers were the two flanking towers of 
the Damascus gate, and were an advantageous position 
for a sudden sally against an enemy moving down the 
north road and then diverging to the west. 

7. The Jews afterwards made a feint of being split 
into two parties, the peace party and the war party ; 
and the former stood on the Women's Towers inviting 
the Eomans to come and take possession of the city, 
while the war party, going out of the gate, pretended to 
be ejected from the city, afraid to approach the Eomans 
who were hostile, and unable to return from apprehen- 
sion of then- own countrymen. The snare in part 
succeeded, and some Eomans advancing to the gate 
flanked by the towers 2 were saluted with a shower of 
stones and missiles, and were chased back all the way 
from the gate to the Tombs of Helena. 3 How exactly 
this answers to the Damascus gate ! It is flanked on 
the sides by two towers fifty feet apart. 4 The eastern 



1 Bell. v. 2, 2. 

2 £7r££ 2e fxera^v Twv rijg Trv\r]C eyevovTO ivvpyuv. — Bell. v. 3, 3. 

3 Ka\ uexpt tWv rfjQ 'EXivrjQ (JLvrijieitoy uttovto paWorreg. — Bell. 
v. 3, 3. 

4 Krafft, 42. 



190 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



tower stands on the site of the ancient one, for the 
foundations still remain ; and the western tower, no 
doubt, also occupies the place of the ancient, for it 
stands at 100 feet from the next old tower on the 
west l , just as the eastern tower of the Damascus gate 
stands 100 feet from the ancient tower on the east. 2 
The Damascus gate is four stades from the Tombs of 
the Kings, and the Jews would naturally follow the 
Romans for about that distance from the wall. Titus 
at this time was encamped on Prospect Hill on the 
other side of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or the pursuit 
would not have been pressed so far. Certainly Jose- 
phus states the Tombs of Helena to be three stades from 
the city, whereas they are just four stades from the 
present wall ; but it can hardly be supposed that the 
exact distance had been measured by Josephus, and, as 
he was writing his history at Eome from his recollection 
of the ground, he might well be mistaken in a single 
furlong. Had the ancient wall been just three stades 
from the Tombs of Helena, that is, one stade from the 
Damascus gate, ruins of the wall, and particularly of 
the two Women's Towers, would no doubt have been 
discovered there ; but not a vestige of ancient fortifi- 
cations can be traced in that part. 

8. The third wall is described by J osephus, after pass- 
ing the Tombs of Helena, as running across the Eoyal 
Caverns. 3 Krafft, who agrees with us in identifying the 
third wall eastward of the Damascus gate with the pre- 
sent wall, was, from the imperfect knowledge of that 

1 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 340. 

2 Krafft, 46. 

3 eVeira KaQrjmv avriKpv rulr 'EXevrjg fAvtjfJtE'iwp, fcai hid Girrfkaiiov 

ficMTlXlKWV IXYlKVVOjXEVQV EKQ.JJL7TTETO J~IS V yii)ViaiO) 7TVpyO) KCITO. TO TOV 

YvacpEWQ TtpoaayopEvofievov fivrjjJLa. — Bell. v. 4, 2. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



191 



day, under a difficulty. He could find nothing to cor- 
respond to the Eoyal Caverns but the Grotto of Jere- 
miah, which lies about a stacle to the north of the wall ; 
and as the hill in which the grotto is excavated had ap- 
parently at one time been the continuation of the hill of 
Bezetha, on the northern brow of which the present 
wall stands (the intervening space having been quar- 
ried), the wall on Bezetha might, he thought, be said 
to run across the Eoyal Caverns, inasmuch as these 
caverns were under the northern segment of the hill, 
of which the southern segment supported the wall. 1 
But recent explorations have elicited the full meaning 
of the historian, for in the rock which underlies the 
wall at the highest point of Bezetha is the entrance into 
the subterranean excavation now known as the Cotton 
Cavern. 2 It extends in a south-eastern direction for 
more than a quarter of a mile, though its greatest 
breadth is less than half that distance. 3 It is the great 
quarry from which ancient Jerusalem was built, and 
was perhaps called the Eoyal Cavern from its vast ex- 
tent, as the southern cloister of the Temple, from its 
superior breadth and magnificence, was called the 
Eoyal Cloister. This cave was not unknown in the time 
of the Sultans, but was afterwards lost sight of until it 
was recently discovered, accidentally, by a dog scratch- 
ing away the stones which had sealed up the mouth. 
We have no intention of describing this Tartarean re- 
gion, but suffice it to say that the entrance into the 
cave is in the rock itself, which supports and forms 

1 Krafft, 45. 

2 See view of the wall where the entrance is, in Barclay, 459 ; 
Traill's Josephus, i. 104 ; of the entrance itself, Tobl. Dritte Wand. 
256 ; and plan of the cavern, Tobl. Dritte Wand. 258. 

3 Barclay, 467. 



192 



TIME OF THE HEKODS. 



part of the wall, so that the account of Josephus is 
verified to the letter, that the third wall as it ran from 
the Damascus gate was carried " across" the Eoyal 
Caverns. This affords a strong argument that, at least 
from the Damascus gate to the north-east corner, the 
wall of Agrippa took the exact course of the present 
wall. 

All these extracts from Josephus tend to the conclu- 
sion that the third wall ran in the line of the existing 
wall, with the exception that at the north-west angle 
it reached somewhat further, viz. to the crown of the 
hill, and then descended south-eastward to a point 300 
feet west of the Damascus gate. 

In further support of this view we may add, that 
if, as some suppose, the third wall inclosed the whole 
swell of ground at the north of the city, so as to 
run near the Tombs of the Kings along the Valley of 
Jehoshaphat, Bezetha or the New Town, which after 
all was a suburb only, would be equal in its dimensions 
to the ancient city itself, a very improbable supposition. 1 

If, again, the third wall ran across this swell of 
ground at any point between the present north wall 
and the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where shall we draw 
the line, so that the wall should, in a military point of 
view, be at all defensible ? The present waU stands on 
the brow of the hill of Bezetha ; but in front of the pre- 
sent wall no favourable ground for a fortification offers 
itself, and no traces of any such fortification have been 
found. The line of the present wall " is actually the 
best defensive line that could be adopted without in- 
closing a very much greater space," 2 viz. by passing 

1 Bartlett's Jerus. Eev. 180. 

2 Bartlett's Jerus. Rev. 189, 184 ; and see Notes by Dr. Bucha- 
nan, p. 123. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



193 



round by the Tombs of the Kings along the edge of the 
Valley of Jehoshaphat, which was certainly not the 
course of the third wall. 1 

There is, however, one objection to the identification 
of the third wall with the line of the present wall, but 
which applies almost equally to any other theory. It 
may be said that, if the course of the third wall be 
drawn as we have supposed, it is impossible to find 
room for the vast population assigned to J erusalem by 
Josephus. If his numbers be admitted, the inference is 
indisputable ; but the argument proves too much, for on 
no conceivable hypothesis could the hmits of the walls, 
as necessarily required by the nature of the ground, 
have held the multitudes which the imagination of the 
historian has created. According to Josephus the num- 
bers assembled at Jerusalem at the public festivals were 
sometimes 2,500,000 2 , and sometimes even 3,000,000 s ; 
and those slain during the siege were reckoned at 
1,100,000, and the captives at 97,000, besides 40,000 
whom Titus set at liberty. 4 Now the most densely 
peopled part of London contains only one person for 
every thirty square yards 5 , and, as we have drawn the 
course of the walls, the number of square yards in 
Jerusalem would be, say, at the outside, 900,000, which 
at thirty square yards for each person would yield 
only 30,000 inhabitants. But extending the waUs to 
the utmost verge, as on the north along the Valley of 

1 The Jews, for instance, could not have chased the Eomans all 
the way from the Women's Towers to the Tombs of Helena, now the 
Tombs of the Kings, if the Women's Towers were in a wall run- 
ning by the Tombs of the Kings; neither would the northern wall 
have been seven stades, as Josephus states, from Scopus, or Prospect 
hill. 

2 Bell. vi. 9, 3. 3 BelL iL 14 > 3 ' 
4 Bell. vi. 8, 2. 5 Fergusson, 50. 

O 



194 



THE THIRD WALL. 



Jehoshaphat by the Tombs of the Kings, not more than 
3,000,000 square yards would be inclosed, which, at 
the same rate, would yield only 100,000 inhabitants. 1 
Supposing that, as the siege commenced at a festival, 
the population for the time was doubled, as Josephus 
states was the case, the result would be only 200,000, 
which is utterly at variance with the accounts of Jose- 
phus. There are also several collateral circumstances 
which throw discredit on the historian in this particu- 
lar. Thus the besieging force under Titus was 25,000, 
or, at most, 30,000 men. 2 In modern warfare a be- 
sieging army ought to be four or five times as nu- 
merous as the besieged ; but even assuming that J ose- 
phus is correct in asserting that the force within was 
23,400 s , yet, taking the proportion of those who bore 
arms to the whole population to be one sixth, and no 
doubt all bore arms who were capable, we do not 
bring out so many as 150,000 inhabitants. 4 That the 
besieged were few in number as compared with the 
besiegers is self-evident, for, had not this been the case,£^ 
Titus could never have dared to break up his army 
into three divisions, one at the north-west corner of 
the city, another opposite Hippicus, and the 10th legion 
on Mount Olivet. How, again, could the Eomans have 
otherwise erected around Jerusalem a wall of circum- 
vallation 4^ miles long, and which, nevertheless, the 
Jews, though pressed by the severest famine, were 
unable to force ? We therefore entirely acquiesce in 
the truth of Fergusson's remark, that " there is no 
point on which Josephus seems to have considered 

1 See Fergusson, p. 52, but who, in assigning 2,212,000 square 
yards, does not include the southern part of Ophel. 

2 Bell. v. 1, 6. 

3 Bell. v. 6, 1. 4 See Fergusson, 48. 



THE OUTER TEMPLE. 



195 



himself safer to exaggerate than on this. No one 
counted the people when they were alive, and no one 
could count them when they were dead or dispersed, 
and he consequently seems on all occasions to have 
given free play to his imagination in speaking of the 
numbers of his countrymen." 1 

3. Of the Temple. 
Of the outer Temple. 

In the reign of Herod, and probably from the very 
first, the outer Temple was a square, measuring 
a stadium on each side. 2 Thus, in one ^ place, the 
Temple, as distinct from Antonia, is said to be a 
square 3 , and in another place the southern side is 
stated to be a stadium in length 4 , and in another the 
eastern side is declared to be also a stadium. 5 

The gates of the outer Temple were the follow- 
ing : On the south was a double gate, at about 

the middle. 6 On the west were four gates : one, 
the most southerly, leading by a bridge across the 
ravine to the palace in the High Town, — that is, the 
palace of the Asmoneans, as opposed to the upper 7 
or Herod's palace at the north-west corner of the High 

1 Fergusson, 47. 

2 Ant. xv. 11, 3; viii. 3, 9. 

3 ro Upov iiEra ri]v KaQaipeaiv rr}g 'Avruviag Tirpayuvov iirowavTO. 

— Bell. vi. 5, 4. 

4 fxrjKog de aradiov. —Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

* tv^V otoSl tov tizv efodev Upov, Kei^yr) U kv <j)apayyt fiadela, 
rerpaKOfftiov 7rr)xur> rovg toixovQ e%ov(Ta. — Ant. xx. 9, 7. ^ 

6 to U rhaprov avrov pWov to irpog fieffn^piav el^e fi^v uu 
avro TrvXag Kara yciaov. — Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

7 r) avojrepio avXi], 

o 2 



196 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



Town 1 ; two other gates on the west, leading down 
into the suburb which lay between Moriah and the 
High Town ; and the fourth and most northerly gate, 
conducting to the inner Low Town. 2 On the north was 
a single gate, which Josephus refers to anonymously 3 , 
but which the Middoth calls Tedi ; and on the east was 
a gate called Shushan, from the representation of the 
city of Susa which was sculptured over it. It was 
this outer Temple which was described by our Lord as 
a den of thieves. Here, as in a market-place, were 
congregated those who bought and sold ; and here 
stood the tables of the money-changers, and those who 
sold doves. 4 The foreign coinage brought by the pil- 
grims from the four corners of the world was here 
converted into Jewish currency, which could alone be 
paid into the corban or Temple treasury; and the 
doves were for sacrifice, as in the case of our Lord's 
mother, who offered for him a pair of turtle-doves and 
two young pigeons. 5 

t Of the inner Temple. 

Within the outer Temple was the Temple proper. 
It commenced with a stone fence 4^ feet high, with 
small obelisks at intervals, bearing the inscription that 
no Gentile might pass under penalty of death. 6 Within 

1 Bell. ii. 17, 6. 

2 ev Be rote kairepioig jiepeai tov TrtpifioXov ttvXcu reffcrapeg etyearcx.- 
ffav, f] jiev elg ra fiaaiXeia re tVouca, rf]g iv fieaa) (papayyog elg BtoBoy 
aTreikrj/jfievrjg' alBe Bvo elg ro izpoaareiov^ ff Xonrrj de elg Trjv aXXrjv 
iroXiv, fiadfxio-i TToXXaig rarw re elg ri)v (j>apayya dieiXrjufxevr], kcu 
cltto ravrrjg avio ttoXiv eirt Tip* TrpoafiaGiv. — Ant. XV. 11, 5. 

3 Bell. ii. 19, 5. 

4 Matt. xxi. 12. 5 Luke ii. 24. 

6 The Jews were allowed to put any man, even a Roman, to 
death, for breach of this law. Bell. vi. 2, 4. 



THE INNER TEMPLE. 



197 



the stone fence you mounted a flight of fourteen steps, 
when you landed on a platform, which, on the north and 
west and south sides, was only 15 feet wide ; and you 
then ascended another flight of steps up to the sanctu- 
ary or court of the priests, which was encompassed by 
a waU 37i feet high on the interior. But on the east, 
being the front of the Temple, the platform before men- 
tioned was not limited to a breadth of 15 feet, but was 
a rectangular space surrounded by a wall of its own, 
and called the Court of the women, not as confined to 
that sex, but as the only court open to them. 

According to the Mishna 1 the inner Temple stood 
not exactly in the middle of the outer Temple, but 
nearest to the west side, farther from the north, farther 
still from the east, and farthest of all from the south. 
But according to Josephus the inner Temple was in 
the middle, not far from the cloisters. 2 The two state- 
ments may be brought nearly together by supposing 
Josephus to speak with reference to the cloisters, and 
the Middoth to the outer walls ; for the greater space 
alluded to by the Middoth on the south was counter- 
balanced by the greater width of the cloister in that 
part: that is, on the three other sides the cloisters 
were 30 cubits or 45 feet wide 3 , but on the south 
the cloisters were treble, consisting of a nave and two 
side aisles ; the nave 45 feet wide, and the two side 
aisles 30 feet each, making together 105 feet. 4 

The iimer Temple had in all ten gates. One, the 

1 Middoth, c. ii. 

2 toiovtoq fiev 6 irpuirog TrepiPoXog 7]V } kv pica) %e aire X ^ oh ™ Xv 
cevrepog. — Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

3 TrXartlaL fiey ^(rav sttl rptaKOvra 7r//X£t£. — Bell. V. 5, 2. 

4 tu)V U at Ivo . . evpog harepag iroSag Tpiatcovra . . . Tr\g 
liia-qg evpog jJiev fjfiLoKiov. Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

o 3 



198 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



Corinthian or Beautiful gate, on the east, leading up to 
the court of the women ; and another, on the opposite 
side of the same court, leading up to the sanctuary or 
court of the priests ; four on the north side, and four 
other on the south. Of the four on the north, the 
three most westerly led up to the altar and fabric of 
the Temple itself, and the fourth, the most easterly, to 
the court of the women ; and the four gates on the 
south were in corresponding positions. 

4. Of Fort Axtoxia. 

The fortress of Antonia is commonly supposed to 
have occupied the north-west corner of the Haram, but 
that spot was the site of the Acra, the Macedonian 
keep ; and Antonia stood lower down on the mount 
called in the Maccabees " the mount of the temple, 
that was by the side of the Acra 1 " viz. to the north of 
the Temple, but to the south of the Acra. Thus, when 
Herod had captured the north wall of the Temple plat- 
form, and therefore the fortifications on the site of the 
Acra, he was still not in possession of the Baris, after- 
wards Antonia; but Antigonus still held out there, 
and did not surrender himself until Herod had become 
master of the whole city. 2 

That Antonia lay along the northern side of the 
Temple appears from numerous passages of Josephus. 3 
But while it occupied the greater part of the northern 
side, it did not cover the whole of it. Thus John, who 
held the Temple while Simon occupied the High Town 

1 1 Mace. xiii. 52. 2 Ant. xiv. 16, 2. 

3 Kara Ze rijv (jopetou TrXevpav a/cooVoAtc kyywvioq evEpKrjQ ltetel- 
yjLOTO. — Ant. xv. 11, 4. ro lepbv Kcti to fiopsLov iir) avru (ppovpiov. 
— Belli. 21,1. 



ANTONIA. 



199 



and Low Town, defended himself against the Eomans 
from Antonia, and also from the northern cloister 1 ; and 
again, when Titus reviewed his army, the J ews looked 
on from the northern part of the Temple, so that the 
wall and towers of Antonia could not have stood be- 
tween. 2 But that Antonia lay more to the west, than 
to the east, of the north side of the Temple results from 
the statement that it was situate at the north-west comer 
of the Temple. 3 Indeed, when Titus had taken Antonia 
he cast up two mounds against the Temple, and one of 
them was outside Antonia against the northern cloister, 
which of course could not be if Antonia covered the 
whole of the north side. 4 

The cloisters originally ran round the Temple only, 
but Herod cut through the northern wall of the Temple 
and continued the cloisters to Antonia and round the in- 
terior of the fortress. 5 However, Antonia itself did not 
touch the Temple, but was united to it by two parallel 
cloisters erected by Herod, one to the east and the 
other to the west, and which were called the limbs or 
legs 6 , or connecting galleries 7 , of the Temple. 8 The 

1 ol fieu Trept tov 'luavvnv «™ T£ T1 ~K 'Af™Wa G Kal 7% Trpoaap- 
kt'lov (Trodg tov 'lepov. — Bell. V. 7, o. ^ ^ 

2 KaTEirXfadri yap acfropuvTuv to ts ltp X a1oy te1 X oq array, feat tov 
lepov to p6peiov K\c l xa. — Bell. v. 9, 1. Here, however, the Temple 
may be spoken of in a large sense, as comprising Antonia. 

3 U 'AvTiovla Kara yuvlav per %vo gtowv ekeito tov irpuTOV 
lepov, Tijg te Trpog earrepav kai Trjg ivpbg apKTOv. — Bell, v. 5, 8. 

4 to Se ETEpov e& /cara tyiv fiopEiov dToav. — Bell. vi. 2, 7. ■ 

5 SictKo^aPTEg U Kai t6 rrpoaapKTiov te7 X 0Q tocovtov rrpoaiXa^ov 
bffov vaTEpov etteIx^ ° ro ^ ™ V ™G lepov TTEpip>oXog.--Bell. v. 5, 1. 
to evZov [of Antonia] fXEfxipMTTO Eig naoav olkwv lUav te /ca< XPV' 
aiv, TtepLffToa. te koX /3a\ama, etc. —Bell. v. 5, 8. 

6 ret fxiXr}. 

7 al avveyelg CToai. . 

8 ol U oTaataaTaX, McavTEg TraXiv IVeXGwv 6 QXZpog KpaT^y 

o 4 



200 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



cloisters leading to Antonia stood, as we may conclude 
from the natural slope of the mount from north to 
south, on higher ground than the Temple, and ac- 
cordingly we find that Antonia was approached from 
the cloisters of the Temple by steps 1 ; and it was up 
these steps that Paul was carried from the Temple into 
the castle, i. e. Antonia. 2 

As to the exact dimensions of the fortress, Josephus 
in one place tells us that Herod, by including Antonia 
within the precincts of the Temple, made the area of the 
Temple double what it was. 3 And as the Temple 
was a square of 600 feet on each side, Antonia, if it 
doubled the area, must also, if a square, have contained 

tov iepov £td Trjg 'Avram'ae, ayafiavreg evdetag Tag avv e^eJq 

OTOCLQ TOV lepOV TTpOQ Tr)V ' AvTlOvLdV aTTEKO^CL V. Bell. \\. 15, 6. 

/cat rag aroag aireKOXparE Trjg 'AvTioviag. — Bell. ii. 16, 5. iv <o 
'IsvdaioL KCLKOVfievoi Taig avf-ifioXcug cleI /car' oXiyoy KopotyovjAE- 
vov ttoXejuov /cat tu> raw TTpoaEpirovTog, KO.0o.TTEp atiTTOfXEVOv aojfj.a- 
Tog, cnrEKOTTTOV rd 7r poEiXrififXEV a [xeXt], tyQavoTEg Tr)v Eig irpoaco 
vofxijy. rrig yap fiopEiov /cat /card Bvatv OToag to avvE^ig 
[the western arm] npbg Trjv 'AvrwWav EfiirprjcrovTEg, eVeira airEpp^av 
oaov in))(Eig e'ikoctl . . . jJLETa. <f rifiipag hvo . . . tt)v TrXr)<jLov 
OToav [the eastern arm] viroTrnrpCbai 'Ptujuatot, /cat ^XP L • • ■ 7rEV " 
TEicaldEica iriiytiv TrpoKoxpavTog tov 7rvp6g, airoKOTrTOvaiv ofioiovg 'lov- 
Ba~iot ty\v 6po§y\v . . . to Trpog rrjv ' Avriaviav avvatykg avrtiv Btai- 
povvTEg. — Bell. vi. 2, 9. 

1 tcadd Be avvriTCTO Taig tov lepov crTodig, Eig ajxcpoTEpag [the western 
and northern] eI^e KaTaj3aa£ig. — Bell. v. 5, 8. 

2 ueXXuv Be EiaayEaQai eig tt)v TrapejjipoXrjP ... 6 HavXog kdTwg 
£7ri tCjv avafiadfjiibv, etc. — Acts xxi. 37, 40. 

3 avroy te tov vaov ettegkevoge /cat tt)v tteoX clvtov avETEi^iaaTo 
^wpav Tfjg ova rig B nrXaG lav, afXETpoig jaev ^prjaafiEPog TO~ig ava- 
Xwjuafftv, avv7TEpfiXr]T(j> Be Trj TroXvTEXEia.' TEKfxrjpiov M egtlv, at jiEya.- 
Xat aroal 7TEp\ to lEpbv, /cat to fiopsiov £7r' avrw (ppovpiov* 
ag fXEV yap aya>KoB6^.r]G£V ek de/jiEXiiov to Be ettegkevoge 7tX6vtu) Baxpi- 
Xe~i, tear ovBev tu>v (SogiXeIojp kXarrov b 'AvTwviav ekoXegev. — Bell. i. 
21, 1. 



ANTONIA. 



201 



600 feet on each side ; or, if a rectangle, must have had 
its sides of greater length. 

Now, on the one hand, Antonia did not cover the 
whole north side of the Temple, and the breadth of An- 
tonia must therefore have been less than 600 feet ; on 
the other hand, the cloisters of the Temple were four 
stades, and, with the cloisters of Antonia reckoned in, 
were only six stades 1 , so that the length of the sides of 
Antonia could not have exceeded 600 feet, or the 
cloisters round the Temple and Antonia together would 
have made more than six stades. The space, therefore, 
inclosed by Antonia could not, when added to the 
Temple, have actually doubled its dimensions; but 
Josephus, by so stating in general terms, must be 
understood as saying only that this was nearly the 
result. 

We can determine whereabouts the eastern parallel 
cloister of Antonia, in descending from the north, 
struck the northern cloister of the Temple, with some 
exactness, as follows : — 

When Titus had mastered Antonia and burnt the 
northern cloister of the outer Temple, he made his ap- 
proaches against the inner Temple by four mounds, 
two within the site occupied by Antonia, and two 
without it. When the legions had completed "the 
two mounds," they applied the battering ram against 
the western side of the inner Temple, and assaulted 
the northern gate of the Temple. 2 It is not said 
what two mounds these were, but it may be gathered 
from the narrative itseE One of the two was of 

1 6 xac kvkXoq avrwv eIq e£ aradiovQ avvEfxerpElro 7r£pt\aii(3avo- 
liivrjg teal tt}g '&VTU)Via.Q. — Bell. v. 5, 2. 

2 rriv kffirepLOV eSeBpav tov 'iffwdev Upov . . . rm U (lopdov ttvXtjc 

— Bell. vi. 4, 1. 



202 



TIME OF THE HEKODS. 



course that on the west of the Temple, as the western 
wall of the inner Temple was battered from it. The 
other was the mound cast up outside of Antonia against 
the northern cloister of the Temple 1 , for it gave ac- 
cess to what Josephus calls "the northern gate." 2 
The mound in question could not have been either of 
those within Antonia, for one of them was directed 
against the north-west corner of the inner Temple, 
where was no gate, and the other was not against a gate, 
but against the Igifyet between the two gates. 3 Neither 
by " the northern gate," which was opposite the mound, 
can Josephus refer to the northern gate of the outer 
Temple, called in the Middoth " Tedi ;" for, when 
the gate held fast, the Eomans applied ladders from it 
to the cloisters 4 , which must have been the cloisters of 
the inner Temple, for the northern cloister of the 
outer Temple had been previously destroyed. 5 As 
this northern gate, therefore, was one of the four 
northern gates of the inner Temple, and as the two 
mounds within Antonia, more to the west, were one of 
them over against the north-west corner of the inner 
Temple, and therefore near the most westerly of the 
four gates, and the other over against the sf%a between 
the two next or middle gates, the mound without An- 
tonia could only have been cast up against the most 
easterly of the four northern gates of the inner Temple. 
If so, it was at the distance of about 475 feet from the 
western wall of the Temple, which was 600 feet broad; 
and, as it was without the site of Antonia, the eastern 
cloister of Antonia itself must have ioined the northern 

1 to Be Irepbv efto Kara rrjp fiopeiov gtoclv. — Bell. vi. 2, 7. 

2 rrjg fiopeiov 7rv\rjQ. — Bell. vi. 4, 1. 

3 Bell. vi. 2, 7. 

4 Bell. vi. 4, 1. 5 Bell. vi. 3, 2. 



ANTONIA. 



203 



cloister of the Temple at about 450 feet from the 
western wall. The area, therefore, inclosed by the 
cloister of Antonia would be about 600 feet long by 
about 450 feet broad. 

Josephus, in one place, furnishes us with a particular 
description of Antonia 1 , and as the account has been 
considered by some not very intelligible, it may be 
worth while to repeat it with a few accompanying re- 
marks : — ■ 

" Antonia," he says, " lay at the corner of two cloisters 
of the outer Temple, viz. the western and northern. It 
was built upon a rock 7 5 feet in height, which was 
precipitous all round." If this height be applied to 
all the sides it must be a great exaggeration, as there 
is no rock on the Temple platform of anything like this 
altitude. But, probably, Josephus had in his mind the 
most favourable side, viz. the western, where was the 
Asmonean Valley ; and, if so, then if we allow for the 
underground foundations, the height might have ap- 
proximated somewhat to the amount stated. 

« First of all, the rock from the foot of it was faced 
with smooth layers of stone, both for beauty, and that 
any one might lose his footing who attempted either to 
ascend or descend." This slope of the base of the tower 
was a favourite style of fortification with Herod, for it 
was adopted also at his palace in the High Town ; at 
least Phasaelus, one of the three great towers there, was 
thus built, as may be seen from the view of Phasaelus, 
erroneously called Hippicus in Bartlett's "Jerusalem 
Eevisited;" 2 and in Traill's Josephus. 3 As Anto- 
nia had a communication with the western cloister 
of the Temple 4 , it is likely that the western wall of 

1 Bell. v. 5, 8. 2 Page 19. 3 Vol. ii, p. 126. 

2 tig anQoTepciQ [the western and northern] eix^ KaTapaaeig. — 



204 



TIME OF THE HEKODS. 



Antonia was flush with that of the Temple platform ; 
and, if so, Josephus, in speaking of this sloping base, 
can refer only to the three other sides of Antonia. 
However, the western wall of the Haram has never 
been thoroughly examined, and much may still be 
brought to light. 

" Next, before reaching the structure of the tower 
was a wall of 4it feet, and a little within this 1 the whole 
area of Antonia rose for 60 feet." By looking again at 
the views of Phasaelus in Bartlett and Traill's Josephus, 
the reader will see a similar low wall, a few feet only 
from the wall of the tower. And the fact that this 
feature attributed to Antonia should be found in the 
only undoubted remnant, at the present day, of the 
architecture of Herod, leads us to rely with some con- 
fidence on the accuracy of Josephus in the other details. 
Eobinson remarks, that, while Antonia is called by 
Josephus an acropolis or garrison (tppovpiov), it is never 
called a tower, so that Eobinson understood the histo- 
rian, in speaking of "the structure of the tower" in 
this place, to refer only to the principal tower, which 
occupied the site of the Bireh or castle, translated in 
JNTehemiah, " the palace which appertained to the house 
of the Lord," 2 and called by the Maccabees the Baris, 
the Greek form of the Hebrew Bireh. If we could 
adopt this view it would afford a singular confirmation 
of our hypothesis, that the Tower of Antonia stood on 
the Sukrah. In that case, the statement that " the area 
of Antonia rose for 60 feet," could not mean 60 feet in 
height, as the main tower was 105 feet high, and the 
other three 75 feet high ; but the words must be inter- 

Bell. v. 5, 8. rfjg (3opeiov Kai Kara Ivoiv ffrodg to avve-^eq npog tt)i> 
'AvTbiviav. — Bell. vi. 2, 9. 

1 evdoTEpto Be tovtov. — Bell. v. 5, 8. 2 Neh. ii. 8. 



ANTONIA. 



205 



preted, "the area of Antoiiia rose to the extent of 60 
feet," i. e. in length and breadth ; and the dimensions of 
the Sukrah are just about this, viz. 60 feet from north 
to south, and 55 feet from east to west. 1 However, 
after carefully weighing the whole paragraph, we are 
driven to the conclusion that Josephus, by the tower, 
means the whole fortress, for he immediately proceeds : 
" But the interior has the space and arrangement of a 
palace, for it was distributed into apartments of every 
form and use, both cloisters, and baths, and spacious 
barracks for soldiers ; so that in having every conveni- 
ence it resembled a city, and in magnificence a palace." 
And how could all this be compressed into a single 
tower? The language evidently points to the whole 
compass of the fortress, which is here likened to a palace, 
and was in fact as extensive as the palace in the Upper 
Town. 2 

But " Antonia," continues Josephus, " being tower- 
like in its form as a whole, was distinguished at the 
corners by four other towers, of which the rest were 
75 feet high, but the one at the south-east corner was 
105 feet high, so as to command from it a view of the 
whole Temple." Here the expression tower-like, as 
applied to the entire fortress, explains and justifies the 
designation of it a little before as a " tower." Besides, 
he speaks here of four other towers, and as no one ever 
imagined that there was a fifth tower, we can only 
understand these four other towers to be opposed to the 
entire fortress, which was not only tower-like, but had 
been previously described as a tower. 

Unfortunately no remains of Antonia, except perhaps 
the foundations of the western wall, now exist ; but if 
any reliance can be placed on the accounts of Josephus, 

\ Barclay, 497. 2 Bell. i. 21, 1. 



206 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



we can determine the position of Antonia with some 
accuracy. It stood a little to the north of the Temple, 
more on the west than on the east side, and was con- 
nected with the Temple by two parallel colonnades ; and 
the great south-east corner tower, the old Baris of the 
Maccabees, frowned on the isolated rock, now called the 
Sukrah. The chamber under the Sukrah has not been 
explored, but time may prove it to be connected, either 
at the side or down the closed orifice in the floor, with 
the subterranean passage known to the Maccabees, 
and restored by Herod, leading from Antonia to the 
Temple. 1 

V. Of the Acropolis, or Temple Platform. 

This area (now the Haram, 1520 feet long and 932 
feet broad) comprised, of old, on the western side : 
1. The Temple on the south ; 2. Antonia, on the north of 
the Temple ; and 3. The site of the Acra, the Macedo- 
nian keep, on the north of Antonia. On the eastern 
side of the Acropolis, between the city wall on the east, 
and the Temple and Antonia and the site of the Acra 
on the west, was a tract called " the Cedron ravine," an 
appropriate designation from its position upon the slope 
toward the Cedron Valley. As the passages of Josephus 
relating to this space have not hitherto received suffi- 
cient attention, we shall give them in detail. 

We may remark in limine, that, when Josephus refers 
to the great Valley of Jehoshaphat, he calls it simply 
" Cedron." 2 But, when he refers to this intermural 
strip of ground, he invariably designates it, by way of 
contradistinction, as the " so-called Cedron ravine." 

1 Ant. xiii. 11, 2; xv. 11, 7. 

2 Ant. viii. 1, 5 ; ix. 7, 3. Bell. v. 2, 3 ; v. 7, 3 ; v. 12, 2. 



THE ACROPOLIS. 



207 



When the factions of Simon and John were be- 
leaguered in Jerusalem by Titus, Josephus tells us how 
the city was divided between them, viz. that Simon held 
the High Town, and Acra, or the Low Town ; and that 
John held the Temple " and the parts about it to no 
small extent, both Ophla and the so-called Cedron 
ravine. 1 Ophla and the so-called Cedron ravine there- 
fore were within the city, and contiguous to the Tem- 
ple. We know where Ophla was, as the old wall run- 
ning up from the south joined the eastern cloister of 
the Temple at the place called Ophla, at the south-east 
of the Temple 2 ; and the so-called Cedron ravine, which 
was also next the Temple, could only he where we 
should, from its name, locate it, viz. on the east of the 
Temple, between it and the outer wall, and so sloping 
down toward the Valley of Cedron. 

Again, Josephus describes the wall of Agrippa as 
running along the north of the city toward the east, 
and then turning at a corner tower to the south, and 
ending by a junction with the old ambit at the " so- 
called Cedron ravine." 3 Here Josephus cannot mean 
that the wall ended at the Valley of Cedron or Jeho- 
shaphat, for the wall had been running along it all the 
way from the tower at the north-east corner ; but he 
says it ended at the " so-called Cedron ravine," which 
can only be the intermural space shut in between the 
Temple and the old wall, the outer peribolus of the 
Temple platform. 

Again, the north-east wall of the Temple is said to 

1 tote lepbv nal ret 7ripi% ek ovk oXlyov, tovte 'O^Xdv fccti rrjv Ke- 
dpfova Kakov}AEvr)V ^apayya. — Bell. V. 6, 1. 

2 Bell. v. 4, 2. 

3 rw Se ap^at'w 7repi€d\&) avvaivTov, elg rrjv Ke^pwya KaXovjJiiyrjy 
^apayya KaTiXrjyEV. — r Bell. v. 4, 2. 



208 



TIME OF THE HERODS. 



overlook, not the Valley of Cedron, which it did not, 
but "the so-called Cedron ravine." 1 Had the wall 
of the Temple overhung the Valley of Jehoshaphat, 
and been the outer bulwark against an enemy, it 
would have been strengthened by towers, and not 
merely decorated with an ornamental cloister, such as 
that called Solomon's Porch. Besides, the ridge on 
which the Temple stood is 1000 feet broad in this part; 
and as the Temple certainly overlooked the valley on 
the west, and reached only 600 feet in any direction, it 
could not have touched the Valley of Jehoshaphat on 
the east. 

It is evident from these citations, that by the so-called 
Cedron ravine Josephus means a different thing from 
the Valley of Cedron, though the two have been com- 
monly confounded. 

The topography of the Acropolis in the later days of 
the Jewish state may be further elucidated by the 
following passages from Josephus: — 

1. On the death of Herod the Great, and during the 
absence of Archelaus at Eome, an outbreak occurred 
at Jerusalem against the Eomans, then commanded by 
Sabinus. One legion only was present, and this was 
quartered partly in Herod's palace, which overawed 
the High Town, and partly in Antonia, the citadel of 
the Low Town. The Jewish insurgents, in three 
bodies, laid siege to the Eomans in both strongholds. 
One division of the Jews watched the north and east 
sides of " the Temple," and the second took up its posi- 
tion at the Hippodrome, on the south of the Temple 2 , 

1 ri ffvvcnrTOvea ywvia Trjg KeSpu>vog Ka\ov[xevr}£ (pdpayyog vtrepde- 
SofxrjTO. — Bell. vi. 3, 2. 

2 K<H rpia fiept] veuvQevteq etti roiwvdE OTpaTOirE^EvovTai x<»pi<*>v ' 

Ol LLEV TOV 'iTTTTodpOflOV CLIToXafioVTEQ KCU TU>V U XOLTTUV SuO /XCfW Ol 



THE ACROPOLIS. 



209 



while on the west the Eomans in Antonia were suffi- 
ciently blockaded by the streets of the city. The third 
division of the insurgents encamped to the west of 
Herod's Palace, which was situate in the High Town. 

Sabinus, a mean-spirited tyrant, posted himself in 
Phasaelus, the strongest of the three famous towers of 
the Palace, and not daring to put himself at the head of 
his own troops, waved a flag 1 from the top of Phasaelus 
as a signal to the legionaries in Antonia to make a sally 
into the Temple. 2 This they did, and drove the insur- 
gents before them, until a body of the latter went round 
and mounted the cloisters, and so assailed the Eomans 
from vantage ground. It was no time for scruples, and 
the Eomans at once set fire to the cloisters, and not a 
man upon the roof escaped. Nay, the Eomans, taking 
advantage of the confusion, forced their way into the 
inner Temple and sacked the Treasury. Upon this 
account we may observe — 1. That when Josephus 
speaks of the Jews as occupying the north and east 
sides of the " Temple," he evidently means the Temple 
inclusive of Antonia, which had been united to it by 
Herod. 2. It is not to be supposed that the Jews were 
encamped on the north beyond the pool called now 
Bethesda, or on the east beyond the present wall of the 
Haram ; and we must conclude, therefore, that the J ews 
were within the platform and besieging Antonia (which 
stood on the west of the platform) on the north and 
east sides. 3. The Hippodrome or Prison, which is 
here described as standing to the south of the Temple, 

tuv ru> fiopeia) tov lepov npbq iiEar)fitpiav TETpapiiEVOi tt\v ewai> 
fjiolpav eTxov, fioipa avruv f] rplrrj ret wpbg Ivolxevov rjXiov EvOa 
kol to flaatXeiov l\v. — Ant. xvii. 10, 2. Bell. ii. 3, 1. 

1 kclteveie rdiQ 'Pwjuatoic. — Ant. xvii. 10, 2. 

2 £t£ to upov. — Sell. ii. 3, 2. 

P 



210 



THE ACROPOLIS. 



was no doubt identical with, or at least occupied the 
site of the court of the prison formerly attached to the 
palace of the kings of Judah, situate on the south of 
the Temple. 

2. When the Jewish war broke out the factions set 
fire to Antonia 1 , and on the approach of Cestius aban- 
doned Bezetha or the New Town, and also the Low 
Town, and retired into the Inner city or High Town, 
and the Temple. 2 Cestius then encamped on the north 
of Herod's Palace, the stronghold of the High Town 3 , 
and subsequently made an assault upon the north of the 
Temple in the Low Town 4 , and attempted, but in vain, 
to fire the northern gate of the Temple (the only one on 
that side, and called in Middoth Tecli). 5 Had the Jews 
defended the walls of the Temple platform, Cestius could 
not have approached the northern gate of the Temple ; 
but the Jews, wishing to narrow their defences, had 
confined themselves simply on the west to the High 
Town, and on the east to the Temple. Here also the 
word Temple appears to include Antonia. Between 
Antonia and the north wall of the platform was an 
open space, the site of the Macedonian Acra, and there- 
fore, whether Antonia was occupied or not by the J ews, 
Cestius had access along this intervening space to the 
northern gate of the Temple proper, which lay to the 
east of Antonia, and was not covered by it. 

3. When Titus besieged Jerusalem, he first took 
Agrippa's wall, which gave him possession of Bezetha. 
He then encamped within Agrippa's wall, but out of 

1 to (ppovpiov iviirpviaav. — Bell. ii. 17, 7 ; V. 4, 4. 

2 elg rrjv kv^OTspav /ecu to \epbv avzyjopovv. —-Bell. ii. 19, 4. 

3 avTinpv Tfjg jjcuriXiKfjQ ai'XrjQ. — Bell. ii. 19, 4. 

4 /caret to TrpoaapKTiov t7n\eipel. KXtjia rw lepu). — Bell. ii. 19, 5. 

5 tov lepov tyiv 7rv\r]v.—Bell. ii. 19, 5. 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



211 



reach of missiles from the first wall, on the spot called 
the Camp of the Assyrians, and therefore at the north- 
west of the city. 1 He shortly afterwards captured the 
second wall, and threw down the northern hmb of it ; 
but posted guards along the western Hmb to secure his 
troops from annoyance in their intended operations, on 
the west of the second wall, against the High Town. 2 

Titus was now in possession of the inner Low Town ; 
and there remained only the High Town and the 
Temple platform, and Acra or the outer Low Town 
below the Temple on the south. The platform was 
protected on the west, first by the Temple wall for the 
length of a stadium from the southern end, then by the 
wall of Antonia for another stadium, and then by the 
wall which continued the wall of Antonia up to the 
north wall, the site of the old Acra, where the wall 
turned east along the Pool of Bethesda. 

Herod had not been in possession of the inner Low 
Town, and had therefore been obliged to commence 
operations on the north of the Temple, first against the 
outer wall of the plateau, and then against the wall of 
the Temple itself. But Titus was in possession of the 
inner Low Town, and, as this could not be held with 
safety so long as Antonia was in the hands of the enemy 3 , 
he determined to assault Antonia itself, which of course 
he could only do on the western side, where the wall of 
the platform was also the wall of Antonia. Had Titus 
attacked the northern waU of the platform, as both 
Pompey and Herod had done, Josephus would no doubt 
have mentioned it, as both in the " Wars " and in the 
« Antiquities " he takes care to notice that Herod de- 

i Bell. v. 7, 3. 2 BeU._v. 8, 2. 

3 tovtov yap firj \r)$QivTOQ ovli to aarv advlvvov 7]y. — Bell. V. 

9, 2. 

p 2 



212 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



livered the assault where Pompey had led the way. 
Had the fosse of Bethesda been the scene of Titus's 
operations we should have heard something of a work 
of such magnitude, whereas Josephus on this occasion 
makes not the slightest allusion to it. The circum- 
stance, also, that the faction of John fought from higher 
ground against the legions 1 , agrees with the western side 
of Antonia, but not with the northern. How, again, 
could John, at the north-west corner of the Haram, 
where it is solid rock, have run the mines which he 
did under the enemy's works? Besides, Titus, after 
capturing the third wall, had already made an at- 
tempt on the Temple platform from the north, and 
found the fortifications too strong for him ; and one 
main reason for mastering the second wall was that he 
might then assault Antonia within the lines of the second 
wall on the west of Antonia. 

The side of the citadel towards the city was 600 feet 
long, and therefore the curtain between the north and 
south towers was proportionably weak. Against this 
part therefore two mounds were cast up, one about the 
middle of the Pool Struthion, and the other at 30 feet 
distance. 2 The Pool Struthion lay at the foot of the 
wall of Antonia, near the baths now known as Ham- 
mam es Shefa. There are still two pools in this quarter, 
recently discovered. One, caUed the Mekhimeh Pool, 
is under the western wall of the Haram, commencing 
from the causeway of Temple Street and running 84 
feet along the wall of the Haram, and is 42 feet wide ; 

1 a(j> v\pr}\oTtpu)v fxa^dfievoi. — Bell. v. 9, 2. 

2 /cat darepov f.iEP to ettl rr\v ' Avrioviav virb rov , ke\l'ktov Tay/jiaroQ 
efiXrjdr) Kara jj.ecroy rfjg lirpovdlov icaKovjj.Evr}g KoXvujSrjdpag' to ds 
ETepov virb tov <)u)()£KaTOV diaaTMTOQ oaov eig wrj^Eig e'Ikoou — Bell. v. 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



213 



and " there is also quite a large pool of water kept well 
filled between the Mekhimeh Pool and Hammam es 
Shefa, quite near the latter." 1 Struthion in Greek 
signifies " Soapwort," the Herba lanaria of the Latins, 
used for cleansing wool 2 ; and the Struthion, or Soap- 
wort Pool, was no doubt so called from the ablutions in 
connection with the adjoining baths, which still exist. 3 

The two mounds cast up by Titus against Antonia 
were completed in seventeen days, but they were 
undermined from Antonia by the Jews, and destroyed 
shortly after. 4 

Titus now commenced the wall of circumvallation, 
so fatal in its consequences to the besieged. It began 
at the Assyrian camp, at the north-west corner of the 
city, and was carried through the Lower New Town 
eastward to Cedron ; crossed the valley to the Mount 
of Olives ; turned south to the Peristereon 5 or Columba- 
rium, the honey-combed rock opposite the south-east 
corner of the Temple ; traversed the Mount of Offence, 
descended into the Valley of Hinnom, and mounted the 
Hill of Evil Council ; then deflected northward to the 
tomb of Herod, by the Dragon or Serpent Pool, now 
Mamilla ; and then joined itself eastward to the Assyrian 
camp, whence it began. The whole circuit was five 
miles wanting only one furlong 6 ; and the reason for 
carrying out the wall so far from the city was to pre- 
vent the escape of the Jews by their numerous subter- 
ranean passages, which reached to great distances. 7 

1 Barclay, 538. Tobler's Denk. 71. 

2 Plin. N. H. xix. 18. Holy City, ii. 497, 2nd ed. 

3 Barclay (p. 322) calls it the Sparrow Pool, as if the name were 
derived from arpovdog, a sparrow. This is clearly an oversight. 

4 Bell. v. 11, 4. 5 From Treptarepa. 6 Bell. v. 12, 2. 

7 ol 'lovdaioi Bia tu>v virovofiiov io-x uo,/ > opupvyfiivovq re yap avTovg 

p 3 



- — -^-"rTffg 



214 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



The Eomans then threw up four fresh mounds against 
the same side of Antonia as before, viz. the west x , and 
the Jews could not prevent this, though they attempted 
a sally, and in twenty-one days the mounds were 
finished 2 , and the battering rams applied. They pro- 
duced no effect apparently ; but at night, partly from 
the shake given by the engines, and partly from the 
foundations having been loosened by the mine of the 
Jews, the western wall of Antonia fell to the ground. 3 

However, the Jews had provided against such a con- 
tingency, and had run up another wall behind, but of 
inferior strength. The courage of the Eomans is said 
to have been damped by the sight of the second wall, 
and that of the Jews to have been sustained by the 
reflection " that Antonia still remained," viz. from the 
barrier opposed by the new wall. 4 

A few days after this the newly erected second wall 
was scaled by a surprise at night, when the J ews in a 
panic rushed from Antonia into the Temple, and the 
Eomans from the west forced their way into Antonia 
through the mine which had been driven by the Jews 
under the wall 5 ; and the Eomans even rushed pellmell 
with the Jews into the Temple itself, to the south, but 
were again forced back, and shut up in Antonia. 6 

evdoOev V7r6 ret rel^rj ftixP 1 Koppb) rfjg yjopag Eiyov^ /cat cV clvtiov 
<)ieZwvteq, etc. — Dion, lxvi. 4. Bell. i. 18, 2. 

1 Bell. v. 12, 4. 2 Bell. vi. 1, 1. 3 Bell. vi. 1, 3. 

4 dapptiv wg jjLEVovvrjQ ffvrifiaive Ttjq ' Avnoviag. — JBell. vi. 1, 4. 

5 Robinson writes that " many of the Jews, in fleeing away to the 
Temple, fell into a mine that had been dug by the tyrant John." 
(Rob. iii. 232.) This, it is conceived, is a misapprehension of the 
passage. Kara^evyovTiov ^' 'IoucWwv elg to lepdv, /cat avroi tW 
Ttjg Ziwpvypg eigett ltttov y)v 6 'Iioavvrjg vtto ret ^fiara tu>p 'Pwjjiaiujv 
vxiopv^E. — Bell. vi. 1, 7. 6 Bell. vi. 1, 7. 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



215 



The area of Antonia was now levelled by the Ko- 
nians, with the exception of the south-east tower, which, 
being the highest and overlooking the Temple, was 
occupied by Titus personally, to superintend the ope- 
rations below. 1 

It Was not until after seven days' labour that the legions 
reached the wall of the Temple, which shows that no 
little space intervened between Antonia and the Temple. 
We have seen that the two were connected together by 
cloisters running between them, and called the limbs of 
the Temple. 

The Eomans now cast up four mounds against the 
Temple, two within Antonia, and two without it. Of 
those within, one, the most western, was over against 
the north-western corner of the inner Temple ; and the 
other, the eastern, was over against the ege'&pa, or 
alcove, between the two gates of the inner Temple. Of 
those without Antonia, one was against the western 
cloister of the Temple, and the other against the 
northern cloister. 2 

As to the mound within Antonia, against the north- 
west corner of the inner Temple, the western cloisters 
of the Temple were 45 feet wide, and if we allow the 
same space, or somewhat more, for the interval between 
the cloisters and the inner Temple, the distance of this 
mound eastward from the western side of the outer wall 
would be about 100 feet. As to the other mound 
within Antonia, over against the alcove, " between the 

1 Bell. vi. 2, 1. 

2 n\rioiaaavTa U r$ Trpwro) vi-pifidXa) ra ray/mra Karnpx^o X w " 
uarwv ' to jueV avntcpv t9jq tov eiaw Upov ywWag yng i]V /car' apKTOV 
mi Ivatv, to U Kara Ttj v pSpetov i#Zpav fj fxeTa^v t&v Zvo tvvXujv 
f,v, Tibv U Xoltvwv cvo, darepov fiev R-ara t^v tairlpiov cToav tov 
UuQzvUpov, to U erepov efa ™rd tt\v fiofeiov. — Bell. vi. 2, 7. 

p 4 



216 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



two gates," the inner Temple had four gates on the 
north : three leading up to the court of the priests, 
containing the altar and Temple edifice, and one up to 
the court of the women ; and though we are not in- 
formed by Josephus between which two gates this 
alcove was situate, we may infer that it was not 
between the gate into the court of the women, and the 
next gate on the west, as a wall intervened to prevent 
any alcove. Nor was it between the two most westerly 
gates, as this would bring the two mounds within An- 
tonia too close together ; and we should therefore place 
the alcove in question between the two central gates 
of the four ; and this view is confirmed by the circum- 
stance, that the western side of the inner Temple had 
only one alcove, which was no doubt in the middle 1 ; 
and we may presume, therefore, that the northern side 
had also but one alcove, and that it was also in the 
middle, between the two central gates. 

As the Eomans made daily attacks upon the Tem- 
ple, along the colonnades or cloisters that connected 
the Temple with Antonia, the Jews now set fire to the 
cloister which ran from the north-west corner of the 
Temple, and thus cut off the communication by this 
passage between the Temple and Antonia ; and two 
days after the Eomans set fire to the eastern cloister, 
which led from the Temple to Antonia ; and thereupon 
the Jews, that the cloisters of the Temple itself might 
not be burnt, cut away the eastern cloister which 
joined Antonia to the Temple, and so severed the Tem- 
ple altogether from Antonia. 2 The Temple now stood 
alone, a simple square, as it had originally been ; and 
thus, says Josephus, was fulfilled the old prophecy, that 



1 BelL vi. 4 ? 1, 



2 Bell. vi. 2, 9. 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



217 



when the Temple should be made a square, the city 
and sanctuary should be destroyed. 1 

The Jews next enticed the Eomans upon the western 
cloister of the Temple, and then themselves set fire to 
it, and the whole was consumed as far as to the tower 
which John had erected at the south-west corner, over 
the gates leading from the Temple by the bridge to the 
Xyst. 2 

The next day the Eomans, in revenge, burnt the 
whole of the northern cloister of the outer Temple, " as 
far as the eastern cloisters, where the two cloisters meet 
in an angle over the so-called Ceclron ravine, and the 
depth is fearful." 3 This passage has produced much 
confusion with many, who take the expression, the " so- 
called Cedron ravine," to mean the Valley of Cedron ; 
but we have already explained that by the " so-called 
Cedron ravine " Josephus means here, as elsewhere, the 
slope from the Temple wall to the outer wall of the 
Temple platform. 

The western and northern cloisters having been 
burnt, the bare walls in those parts, as no longer de- 
fensible, were abandoned by the Jews, and accordingly 
we hear no more of them ; but the J ews now confined 

1 aXwaeadai rr\v iroXiv kol top vaov kireiZav to tepov yivryrai TETpd- 
yojvov. — Bell. vi. 5, 4. This passage has been the subject of vari- 
ous explanations, according to the different views of the numerous 
writers upon the subject; but surely the simple solution offered is 
the correct one. 

2 KCLTEKCir) <)£ f] (TTOCL JUf'Xl 01 T °V ^OJaVVOV TTVpyOV OV EKELVOQ EV T(0 TtpOQ 

2</uwva 7roXejji<i) Kareanevaaev vTzep rag k^ayovaag vTrep top Evvtop 
TcvXag. — Bell. vi. 3, 2. 

3 Trjds vffTspata kol 'Poj/jlcuol rrjv fiopeiov aroav kvitrpYiaav /^Xl 01 
rr]g dvaroXiKfiQ bXr]i>, iou f] avvditTOVtra yojvia Trjg Kedp&i'og kclXov- 
ixevrjg fdpayyog v7repded6fxr]T0, nap o kol tyofiepbv r)p to (3ddog. — 
Bell vi. 3, 2. 



218 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



themselves to the inner Temple, which, standing on a 
terrace of considerable elevation, and having thick 
walls beside, was an exceedingly strong fortress. How- 
ever, the Eomans completed the two mounds without 
Antonia, — one on the western and the other on the 
northern side ; and then on the west applied the batter- 
ing ram, and on the north commenced undermining 
the northern gate. 1 By the northern gate must here be 
meant a northern gate of the inner Temple , for the Eo- 
mans now scaled the cloister 2 ; which could only be the 
cloister of the inner Temple, as the northern cloister of 
the outer Temple had been previously burnt 3 ; and of 
the four northern gates of the inner Temple, tli€ one in 
question could only have been the most eastern, leading 
up to the court of the women, for the mound cast up 
within Antonia was over against the which was 

between the two central gates ; and the mound without 
Antonia was of course more to the east, and must, there- 
fore, have been against the most easterly of the four 
gates. 

The Eomans now fired the cloisters of the inner 
Temple, and, after some attempt to extinguish the 
flames on the part of the Eomans themselves, the 
whole fabric of the Temple was reduced to ashes. 4 The 
Eoman standards were now carried in triumph into the 
Temple, and sacrifices performed to them, and Titus 
himself was saluted by the title of " Imperator." 5 And 
thus " the abomination of desolation," spoken of by 
Daniel the Prophet, stood in the Holy Place. 6 

Titus, being thus in possession of the Temple, held a 
parley with the Jews of the High Town, across the 

i rijg ftopetov itv\r]Q. — Bell. vi. 4, 1. 2 Bell. vi. 4, 1. 

3 Bell. vi. 3, 2. 4 Bell. vi. 4, 2. 

6 Bell. vi. 6, 1. 6 Matt. xxiv. 15. Mark xiii. 14. 



SIEGE BY TITUS. 



219 



bridge leading from the south-west corner of the Temple 
to the Xyst, just below the palace of Agrippa, which 
stood on the eastern brink of the High Town, or Pseudo- 
Sion, but without effect. 1 

The Low Town, Acra, or Ophel, below the Temple, 
as well as the High Town, was still in the hands of the 
factions, and they now plundered the palace of Helena, 
queen of Adiabene, in revenge for her descendants hav- 
ing gone over to the Eomans. 2 

The royal palace here referred to, and belonging to 
the princes of Adiabene 3 , was quite distinct both from 
the palace of Herod and the palace of the Asmoneans ; 
the one at the north-west, and the other at the north- 
east, corner of the Upper City. 

The Eomans next expelled the factions from Ophel, 
here called by Josephus the Low Town 4 , and then cast 
up mounds against the High Town ; one on the west, 
opposite Herod's palace, and the other on the east, in 
the Xyst, viz. at the bridge leading from the Temple, 
and at the tower erected by Simon. 5 

The mounds were soon completed, when the High 
Town was carried by assault, and the whole of Jerusa- 
lem, with the exception of the citadel composed of three 
towers, Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne, and the 
barracks contiguous, along the western wall of the 
palace, was razed to the ground. 

1 Iffrarai Kara, to -Kpoc, Zvviv fxipog tov e^wQev Upov' Tavrrj yap 
virep tov Zvvtov H]oav TrvXat, kcu yfyvpa avvaivTovaa rw tepu) ty\v avu 
ttoXiv. — Bell. vi. 6, 2. 

2 £7rl tt\v flaeiXiKrjv bpfirjaavTEQ avXrjv. — Bell. vi. 7, 1. 

3 BeU. iv. 9, 11. 

4 e/c Trjg kcltio 7t6Xeo)q. — Bell. VI. 7, 2. 

5 Kara tov Zvgtov t£ ov Kai [qu. lege rara] Trjv yityvpav Kal tov 
IttfiajvoQ irvpyov ov uKod6fJLr}(TE TTpoQ 'Iwawrjv 7roXEjj.wv lavrw (ppovpiov. 
— .Bell vi. 8, 1. 



220 



CHAP. V. 

PRESENT STATE OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT. 

The Haram es Sherif measures, according to Cather- 
wood, 1520 feet on the east side, 1020 feet on the 
north, 1617 feet on the west, and 932 feet on the 
south. 1 As these dimensions are entirely different from 
those of the Temple as described either by Josephus or 
the Mishma, the question is, Where did the Temple 
stand ? Did it occupy the whole area ; or did it cover 
only a part ; and if so, what part ? 

First Some, as Catherwood, suppose that the whole 
Haram, as it now appears, represents the area of the 
ancient Temple. But the measurements of the plat- 
form, as given by Catherwood himself, are so at variance 
with the accounts of Josephus and the Middoth, that the 
hypothesis will not bear a moment's consideration. 
According to Josephus, the sides of the Temple were 
only 600 feet each ; and the Middoth, which exagge- 
rates the dimensions to accommodate them to the 
visionary temple of Ezekiel, makes them only 500 cubits, 
or 750 feet each ; and both Josephus and the Middoth 
agree in saying that the Temple was a perfect square, 
with all its sides equal, whereas the Haram is half as 
long again as it is broad. The advocates of this theory 

1 See the different measurements collated, Barclay, 485. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



221 



have been chiefly influenced by the fact, that the ancient 
masonry all round the Haram is bevelled, and of a uni- 
form character ; but this only serves to confirm what 
we have before advanced, viz. that contemporaneously 
with the building of the Temple an outer wall or peri- 
bolus was constructed for its defence. 

Secondly. Dr. Eobinson's idea is that the Temple 
occupied a square of the breadth of the present area, 
but at the southern end of it, and that the rectangular 
space remaining at the north is an accretion, by taking 
in the space of Fort Antonia, which reached all across 
the Haram, and was defended on the north by the fosse 
now called Bethesda. 

This theory is open to the following objections : — 
1. According to Eobinson, the Temple would thus be 
a square of about 932 feet ; but Josephus states again and 
again, both directly and indirectly, that the Temple was 
a square of only 600 feet. Had his account been an 
exaggeration we might have questioned his veracity ; 
but, as his measurement in this instance is a depreci- 
ation, we cannot suspect it. 

As regards the Micldoth, which gives the length of 
each side of the square as 500 cubits, it is suggested 
by Eobinson that the cubits meant are not of the 
ordinary kind, i. e. of five handbreadths of 3^ inches 
each, but of six hand-breadths. 1 Now it is much 
disputed whether the Jews had two different cubits ; 
and, if they had, it is further insisted by some, 
that the smaller one was only 15 inches, and that 
they adopted the larger one of 18 inches to ac- 
commodate their measurements to the usage of the 
nations about them, who all adopted the 18-inch 
cubit. 2 But admitting that the ordinary cubit was 

1 Rob. i. 291. 2 Fergusson, 18. 



222 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



about 18 inches, and the larger cubit J more, or 21 
inches, this would not make the 500 cubits of the 
Middoth equal to the 932 feet, though it would yield 
875 feet. But in fact the Middoth does not use a dif- 
ferent cubit from Josephus, but the same. How other- 
wise can it be explained that Josephus and the Middoth 
agree in all their principal measurements, with the excep- 
tion of the outer ambit of the Temple? Both, for 
instance, say that the Chel was 10 cubits broad, the 
front of the Temple 100, the mog 40, the adytum 20, 
and so on. 1 The reason why the Middoth differs as to 
the general circuit of the Temple is, that the author of 
it was strongly imbued with a priestly feeling ; and as 
Ezekiel, but in a vision only, speaks of the sides of the 
Temple as of 500 cubits, the Middoth, addressing itself 
to its Jewish votaries, adopts the same mystic measure. 2 
In a discrepancy between the Middoth and Josephus we 
cannot hesitate to follow the latter, who was personally 
acquainted with the localities, and wrote when living 
persons (and he had many enemies) could have refuted 
his statements. 

2. Eobinson, in advocating the view that Antonia 
reached all across the Haram, and therefore covered 
the whole northern side of the Temple, has displayed 
his usual ingenuity and learning, but the facts are too 
strong for him. If Antonia extended along the whole 
north side of the Temple, how could it be described as 
situate at the north-west corner of the Temple ? 3 How 
could Cestius, who had not possession of Antonia, have 
attacked the north side of the Temple, and attempted to 

1 Fergusson, 20. 

2 Ezek. xlii. 20. See Sept. version. 

3 /caret ytoviav {ih %vo arouiv heiro rov -irpwrov Upov, tT]q re Ttpbg 

IffTTtpaV KOLl TJ]Q TtpOQ CLpKTOV. Bell. V. 5, 8, 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE 



223 



burn the northern gate ? 1 How could John and his 
faction have defended themselves against Titus, not only 
from Antonia, but also from the northern cloister ? 2 
How, when Titus reviewed his army at the north of 
the city, could the north of the Temple have been filled 
with spectators 3 ; or, lastly, how, when Antonia was 
razed by Titus, could three mounds have been cast 
up, two within the site of Antonia and one without 
it, and the latter against the northern cloister of the 
Temple. 4 

3. The foundations of the Temple were, according to 
Josephus, one solid, unbroken mass, formed by scarping 
the sides of the rock, and carrying up a wall upon the 
scarpment, and then levelling the summit by casting the 
material into the hollows against the walls until the 
whole became an even surface. 5 But if the Temple 
extended on the south to the south-east corner of the 
Haram, the foundations of the Temple in this part must 
have been quite different ; for, after measuring 600 feet 
along the southern wall from west to east, we come to 
the triple gateway, leading into vaults which extend 
from that point to the south-east angle, and there- 
fore reaching 327 feet west, and running northward 
under the Haram to various lengths, according to 
the unevenness of the ground, but in some places 
as far as 247 feet. Neither could these vaults have 
supported the superstructure of the Temple, for the 
southern cloister consisted of 4 rows of columns, 37 
feet high, and at least 5 feet in diameter 6 ; and the 

1 to TrpoaapicTiov sX/jua. — Bell. ii. 19, 5. 

2 Trjg 7rpoffapKTiov gtoclq tov lepov. — Bell. V. 7, 3. 

3 tov lepov to fiopeiov /cXt^ua. — -Bell. v. 9, 1. 

4 to c)6 eTepov e£(o Kara Trjv (jopeLOV (oroay). — Bell. vi. 2, 7. 

5 Ant. xv. 11, 3. 6 Ant. xv. 11, 5. 



224 



SIET OF THE TEMPLE. 



columns in the vaults are only 3 feet 6 inches by 3 feet 
2 inches in section, and the arches between them so 
weak that the olive-trees have struck their roots through 
them 1 ; and we have the authority of Mr. Fergusson, a 
competent judge on a question of architecture, that 
these substructions would not have been adequate to 
the pressure of the massive Temple porticoes above. 2 

4. There is another architectural argument against 
the theory of Eobinson. The southern cloister was of 
the Corinthian order, and stood in four rows, and 
Josephus happens to mention the exact number of pil- 
lars, viz. 16 2. 3 The odd pair was for carrying the outer 
wall over the gate at the south-west corner leading to 
the bridge ; and, rejecting these, we have 40 columns in 
each of the 4 rows. In general, around the cloisters, 
the columns next the wall were let into the wall ; and, 
if this was so at both ends of the royal colonnade, there 
would be only 39 intercolumniations ; but, as the two 
odd pillars stood at the gateway at the western end, the 
next columns to them must have stood free ; so that we 
should thus have just 40 intercolumniations. Now, the 
length of the southern side of the Haram is 932 feet, 
which would yield about 23 feet for each intercolumni- 
ation, or rather for each epistyle measured from the 
centres of the columns. Fergusson pronounces that 
such an intercolumniation was utterly unknown to the 
architects of the ancient world ; that the epistylia, for 

1 Bartlett, 157, with an illustration. 

2 Fergusson, 10. See his section, Biblic. Diet. Jerus. 1020. 

3 "In the present Mosque of Omar are twelve massive columns, 
and sixteen of less dimensions, all of the Corinthian order, and of 
ancient workmanship. The larger may be some of those of the outer 
Temple, and the smaller some of those of the inner Temple." — 
Bartlett) 153. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 225 

instance, of the Pantheon at Borne, are only 15 feet ; 
those of the Temple of Jupiter Olyinpius at Athens, 17 ; 
those of the Great Temple at Baalbec, 17 ; those of the 
Temple of Diana at Ephesus (somewhat apocryphal), 
under 20. At Baalbec one architrave is nearly 20 ; and 
one at Palmyra nearly 23 ; but these are over principal 
entrances or gateways, and intercolumniations of such a 
length as 23 feet are nowhere found in succession. We 
should add, that in the above calculation we have not 
deducted from the length of the southern side the thick- 
ness of the walls at each end. However, allowing 24 
feet for the two walls (12 feet each), and deducting 
that from the 932, and dividing the result by 40, we 
have still more than 22 feet for the inter columniation, a 
measure out of all architectural proportion. 

5. Another objection, which we shall state very 
briefly, is this : Josephus, in his account of the old wall 
of the High Town, mentions that it ran up to the eastern 
cloister of the Temple. 1 But the south-east angle of the 
present Haram hangs over a very steep precipice on the 
east and south, and this, notwithstanding the accumu- 
lation of rubbish and debris in that part for a series of 
ages ; so that, in ancient times, the fall must have been 
much more rapid. 2 A wall, therefore, to the south 
could not have been wanted, and the placing of one 
there would be neither more nor less than " building 
castles in the air." 

6. We learn from Josephus that, in the siege by 
Titus, John, who had possession of the Temple, erected 
four towers — one at the north-east corner of the 

1 Bell. v. 4. 2. 

2 Wilson, i. 419. Stewart, Tent and Khan, 322. According to 
Williams (Holy City, ii. 317), the fall here is 129 feet ; and according 
to Robinson (i. 232), 150 feet. 



226 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



Temple, another at the north-west corner, another at 
the south-west corner, and the remaining one over the 
Pastophoria. 1 From the way in which reference is 
made to them, it is probable that these stood exactly at 
the south-east corner of the Temple ; but at all events 
their situation must have been either there or in im- 
mediate proximity. But if the south-east corner of 
the Temple was identical with the south-east corner 
of the Haram, no building there would have been 
practicable. 

We may add, in conclusion, that ably as Eobinson 
has advocated his views, they have not commanded the 
general assent of those who have visited the spot. 

Thirdly. We now approach Mr. Williams's theory. 
Eobinson and Williams both insist that the Temple 
reached east and west all across the present Haram ; 
but they differ in this, that Eobinson places the square 
of the Temple at the south, and acids Antonia at the 
north to make up the existing rectangle ; whereas 
Williams, on the contrary, places the square of the 
Temple at the north, and considers the southern portion 
to be the accretion. 

The keystone of Williams's position is that the Su- 
krah, or holy rock, the centre of the Mosque of 
Omar, represents the site of the high altar of the 
Temple, and his argument is, no doubt, entitled to 
respect. It is only after weighing the proposition 
carefully in conjunction with the other particulars fur- 
nished by Josephus that we find ourselves under the 
necessity of abandoning so attractive a scheme. The 
data upon which Williams relies are as follows : — 

1 ircMJTofyopia. — Bell. tv. 9, 12. These Pastophoria were the 
chambers of the priests, and, accordingly, the chamber of Johanan 
(Ezra x. 6) is translated by Josephus Traarotyopiov (Ant. xi. 5, 4). , 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE, 



227 



Within the Haram is an elevated terrace, measuring, 
according to Catherwood, 550 feet north and south, and 
50 east and west, and varying in height ; but, accord- 
ing to Barclay, averaging about 10 feet (the height at 
the north being under 5 and at the south over 10) 1 , 
but, according to Bartlett 2 , averaging as much as 
15 or 16 feet. Nearly in the middle of this terrace, 
but about one third, or 320 feet, nearer to the west 
than to the east wall of the Haram, stands the Mosque 
of Omar, and within the mosque is the holy rock, 
or Sukrah, 60 feet one way by 50 or 55 feet the 
other, and rising about 5 feet from the floor of the 
mosque, which itself, in this part, is said to be about 
12 feet above the general level of the Haram ; so that 
the height of the Sukrah is in all 17 feet above the 
ordinary level. 3 

Now, argues Williams, within the outer Temple was 
an inner Temple of higher elevation, and within that 
an inmost Temple, the court of the priests, of higher 
elevation still. Hence he concludes that the inmost 
Temple, which contained the sacred edifice, stood upon 
the present platform which supports the mosque ; and 
the Sukrah, or culminating rock within the mosque, must 
be the site of the altar. Nay, further, he would confirm 
this hypothesis by an argument drawn from the Mid- 
doth, which states incidentally that under the altar was 
a chamber for cleansing the sewer by which the blood 
of the victims was drained into the Valley of Cedron ; 
and he points to the singular fact, that under the Sukrah 
is a chamber, excavated in the rock, 15 feet square and 
8 feet high, with an opening at the top, and a corre- 

i Barclay, 497. 2 Bartlett, 152. 

3 See the section of the Temple and Platform in Bartlett, 165. 

a 2 



228 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



spending slab of marble in the floor, which rings hollow, 
and no donbt covers an orifice; and he would therefore 
have us believe that this Sukrah is the very spot on 
which stood the altar, and that the sewage of the altar 
passed through this chamber which is excavated under 
the Sukrah. 

This scheme is prima facie very plausible. Let us 
examine carefully what weight is due to the argument 
itself, and what objections lie against it. 

First, then, does it follow that, because the Sukrah is 
the highest point of the Haram, therefore it was the 
site of the altar ? Let us assume for a moment what 
we shall prove hereafter, that the Temple, described by 
Josephus as 600 feet square, stood at the south-west 
corner of the Haram. In that case Fort Antonia would 
be situate just where we now find the Sukrah. "Which 
then was the higher, the Temple or Fort Antonia? 
Fortunately Josephus has enabled us to determine this 
point ; for he tells us that from the outer Temple the 
ascent to the inner Temple was by fourteen steps \ at 
the top of which was a wall measuring within 25 cubits, 
but on the outside, including the steps which were part 
of it, 40 cubits. The steps, therefore, were 15 cubits, 
or about a cubit each. Thus far the height of the 
ground was 22^ feet. Then followed another flight 
of five steps 2 , which, taking the steps as before to be 
about a cubit each, would add 7J- feet, making 30 feet. 
There was then another flight of twelve steps 3 , or 18 feet, 
and making in the whole 48 feet ; and that the height 
could not much have exceeded this, may be inferred 
from the accidental mention in the "Wars," that the tim- 

1 recrffapeaicaidsica (jad/jiolg. — Bell. v. 5, 2. 

2 7revref3adfiOL KXifiaxeQ. — Sell. v. 5, 2, 

3 d&deKci (3ad/J.o7g . — Bell. v. 5 ? 3, 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



229 



bers cut on Mount Lebanon for the repairs of the Temple 
were of sufficient " length " to reach, at the back of the 
Temple where were no steps, from the floor of the outer 
court to the level of the inner Temple. 1 Such was the 
utmost height of the Temple without the altar, which 
was not the natural rock, but built of unhewn stones ; 
but even if we add the altar, which was 15 cubits or 
22i feet 2 , we should obtain only 7 0^ feet. What is 
the - historian's account of Fort Antonia? That the rock 
upon which it was constructed was 50 cubits or 75 feet 
high 3 , so that it was 5 feet higher than the altar, and 
omitting the altar, as we ought to do, was 27 feet 
higher. The greater height of the Sukrah, therefore, 
would rather indicate that it is the site of Antonia, and 

not of the altar. 

But how are we to deal with the startling fact, so 
strongly insisted on by Wilhams, that the chamber 
under the Sukrah is the identical one which was exca- 
vated below the altar ? If it be so, the description in 
the Middoth ought to tally with the existing chamber 
in all particulars ; and Wilhams suggests that such is the 
case, and especially caUs attention to the remarkable fact, 
that the descent to the chamber under the Sukrah is at 
the south-east corner, the very corner where the Middoth 
places it. The words of the Middoth (according to the 
Latin version 4 , which I presume is correct) are that 

1 QapKOvv to pWQQ evpui> irphq tovq cWo rod uaQvirepQev tepov 
fia^v jxiv ovg. — Bell.Y. 1 5. 

2 irevreicaiZeKa fxev v\pog i\v ttjjx^- — Bell. v. 5, 6. 

3 Bell. v. 5, 8. 

4 " Cornu autem inter occidentem et austrum liabebat duo foramina 
instar duaruni narium, per quae sanguis sparsus, cum super pulvi- 
num sui fundamental occidentale turn super fundamentum 
australe, descendebat, et miscebatur uterque sanguis in canali ac 
effluebat in torrentem Kedron. Inferius in pavimento ad idem 

q 3 



230 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



the descent to the chamber was not at the south-east 
corner, but at the south-west corner; not to mention 
that the entrance to the altar chamber is described as 
an opening of a cubit square, which does not at all cor- 
respond to the present staircase down to the cave under 
the Sukrah. The circumstance, therefore, so much re- 
lied upon to establish the identity of the two chambers 
shows plainly that they are different. 

What really was the use of the excavation under the 
Sukrah must be matter of conjecture. The sides of the 
chamber are whitewashed, but the northern side, on 
being struck, indicates a cavity in that direction, so that 
further discovery is needed. 1 Most of the great towers 
in Jerusalem appear to have had a subterranean escape, 
for when, at the siege by Titus, the company which 
had charge of the middle tower in the north wall were 
obliged to abandon it, they made their exit by an 
under-ground passage 2 , and similar means of retreat 
may have been provided for Antonia. We know, in 
fact, that a subterranean gallery did lead from Antonia 
to the Temple, for Antigonus was slain by his brother 
Aristobulus in such a passage from the Temple to 
the castle, called then Baris, afterwards Antonia 3 , 
and this under-ground passage was probably under 
one of the towers of the Baris or Antonia, for the 
place where Antigonus was slain was named " Stra- 
ton's Tower." We read also that when Herod re- 
stored and enlarged the Baris by the name of Antonia, 

cornu erat locus quadratus unius cubiti, ubi tabulae marmoreas annu- 
lus infixus eratj qua descendebant in foveam seu camerinam, eamque 
purgabant." — P. 356. 

1 Barclay, 498. 2 Bell. v. 7, 4. 

3 dii<rT7](TE [Aristobulus] tovq acofxaro^vXaKaQ zv rivi t&v vTroyeiiov 
a(f)(t)ri(7TO) ' KctTEKtiTO fie kv Trj (3apei ^.ETOvofxaaddarf de 'AvTWVta. — 
Ant. xiii. 2. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



231 



he also repaired a subterranean communication from 
Antoma to the tower over the eastern gate of the 
inner Temple ; and if, as we have supposed, the Temple 
stood at the south-west corner of the Haram, the Sukrah 
would be in a line with the eastern gate of the Temple. 
The opening in the floor of the chamber of the Sukrah 
may be thought of narrow dimensions for an entrance 
to an under-ground gallery, but we have seen from the 
Middoth, that the mouth of the descent into the 
chamber under the altar was only one cubit in diameter, 
which, supposing even the greater cubit to be used, 
would not exceed 21 inches ; but, if the closed orifice 
in the floor of the chamber be equal to that in the ceil- 
ing, the diameter would be 3 feet, which would allow 
ample room. The whole neighbourhood, indeed, of 
the Temple was honeycombed with these secret under- 
ground avenues ; and it is a threadbare tale how Simon, 
who was in the upper city at the capture by Titus, 
made his way through subterranean passages into the 
Temple, and there having dressed himself in white 
robes, suddenly rose from the ground like an apparition 
amongst the affrighted soldiery. 1 

Another solution of the excavation under the Sukrah, 
and perhaps the most probable, is that this shaft sunk 
in the floor of the chamber, and called Bir Arruah, 
or Well of Souls, was neither more nor less than 
a well of water for supplying Antonia. Beneath the 
Temple proper were spacious cisterns with draw- 
wells above; and it cannot be supposed that the 
citadel which commanded the Temple would be left 
destitute of one of the chief necessaries of life. The 
orifice in the roof of the chamber is about a yard in 
diameter, and corresponds to the one below 2 , as if for 

i Bell. vii. 2, 2. 2 Barclay, 497. 

Q4 



232 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



the passage of a bucket. And just without the Haram, 
in a line clue west, is now a well of great depth, the 
Hammani es Shefa, also containing an under-ground 
chamber in connection with it. 1 

We now proceed to the consideration of certain ob- 
jections which lie against Mr. Williams's theory. In the 
first place, by locating the altar at the Sukrah he is 
obliged, for the purpose of making the Temple a square, 
as required both by Josephus and the Middoth, to insist 
that the vast stones and substructions at the south-east 
corner of the Haram, and the solid mass of masonry 
with the gigantic bridge at the south-west corner, never 
belonged to the Temple, but were added in the time of 
Justinian. Admitting that the substructions at the 
south-east corner were of a later age, who can believe 
that the huge bevelled stones and fragment of a bridge 
at the south-west corner were so, the very remains to 
which all travellers have pointed as the undoubted relics 
of at least the Herodian era ? In support of his propo- 
sition, that the south-west corner was no part of the an- 
cient Temple, but the addition of after ages, he reiterates 
the extraordinary mistake made by an English engineer 
in his survey of Jerusalem in 1841, that in the southern 
part of the western wall of the Haram are two re- 
entering angles, thus breaking twice the straight line of 
the western wall ; an error into which the engineer was 
probably led by the site of the Sheikh's house, and other 
buildings which stand in that quarter, partly within the 
wall of the Haram itself. There can be no doubt, 
however, from subsequent observations, that the west 
wall is one continuous line, without a break from north 
to south ; and, if so, the whole fabric ingeniously 



1 Barclay, 528. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



233 



erected upon the engineer's hallucination falls to the 
ground. 1 

Again, if the Temple square was the northern part of 
the Haram, and the altar was where Mr. Williams would 
place it, viz. on the Sukrah, the inner Temple (on the 
supposition that the southern part was an accretion sub- 
sequently), instead of standing, as Josephus says, near 
the middle, or as the Middoth affirms, nearer to the 
north than the south, would be situate so close to the 
southern wall as to leave no room for the royal cloisters, 
which were 105 feet wide. 

Again, it is part of Mr. Williams's theory that ys$upa, 
the word used by Josephus, should be translated a cause- 
way, and not a bridge, and that the causeway referred 
to by him as communicating between the Temple and 
the High Town is the causeway now leading from the 
Haram to Temple Street. But, according to Eobinson, 
this causeway could never have led to the High Town, 
but must have run to the north of it ; and this must be 
so, for the street which leads from the Jaffa gate east- 
ward along the foot of the High Town passes over the 
causeway to the Haram. 2 However, assuming that this 
causeway did touch (and it could only have touched) 
the northern brow of the High Town, what is the con- 
sequence ? As the bridge was at the south-west corner 
of the Temple, and the causeway is not due east and 
west, but in its course from the Haram dips to the 
south, the whole of the Temple must have stood op- 
posite the inner Low Town, and not have been covered 
by any part of the High Town ; instead of which, there 
is the strongest evidence that the Temple fronted the 
High Town ; for the bridge, according to J osephus, 

1 Rob. iii. 177, 186. Fergusson's Notes on Holy Sepulchre, p. 19. 

2 Rob. i. 267; iii. 187. 



234 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



conducted to the Xyst, and thence to the upper city ; 
and upon the edge of the High Town was the Palace of 
Agrippa 1 , overlooking the Xyst. 2 And we read that 
when Agrippa raised the roof of his palace, and so 
commanded a full view of the Temple and the proceed- 
ings in it, the Jews (as it was contrary to law that any 
one should watch the religious services, and especially 
the sacrifices 3 ) built a counter wall or screen upon the 
Ifs'Spce, or alcove, of the western wall of the inner 
Temple 4 , and so shut out the view of the altar 
from the palace. Thus much, therefore, is clear, that 
the western wall of the Temple lay in a direct line 
between the altar and Agrippa's house in the High 
Town ; and as the altar stood before the vestibule of 
the inner Temple, and was therefore due east, or nearly 
so, of the centre of the western wall, the altar and the 
centre of the western wall and Agrippa's palace must 
have been in about the same line. In other words, 
the historian assumes the house of Agrippa in the 
High Town to be opposite the middle of the Temple 
on Mount Moriah, a location wholly at variance with 
the site of the altar as proposed by Mr. Williams. 

As regards the theories both of Mr. Eobinson and 
Mr. Williams, we may remark that neither of their 
theories can stand if we can prove an alibi ; that is, if 

1 That the Palace of Agrippa was in the High Town is clear from 
Bell. ii. 17, 6. 

2 avrr) yap 7]v eiravo) tov ^varov 7rp6g to irtpav Trjg avu) 
7roA£a>£, /mi yi<pvpa rw £i/or« to lepou ffvvyjwTev. — Bell. ii. 16, 3. 
itrrarai [Titus] /caret to Kpog Ivaiv fiepog tov e^wdey lepov, 
TavTr) yap virep tov £v(jtov y\aav 7rv\ai, kat yityvpa avvaizTOvaa to) 
hpw ty)v dvio 7r6\u\ — Bell. vi. 6, 2 ; and see Bell. vi. 8, 1; i. 7, 2; 
vi/3, 2; v. 4, 2; vi. 6, 3; iv. 9, 12. Ant. xiv. 4, 2; xv. 11, 5. 

3 Tag lepovpylag. — Ant. XX. 8, 11. 

4 £7rt Ttjg e£,e()pag ijTig i\v kv tw 'iawdev t£pu) TETpafifiivr) 7rpbg hvaiv. 
— Ant. xx. 8, 11. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



235 



. we can show affirmatively that the real site of the Temple 
was on a spot different from that advocated by either of 
them. We now, therefore, enter upon the question, 
where the Temple is really to be placed, and, after a care- 
ful examination of all the passages in J osephus that have 
any bearing upon the subject, we say with some confi- 
dence that the Temple stood at the south-west corner of 
the Haram. We shall first adduce the arguments upon 
which we rest the hypothesis, and we shall then answer 
some objections which may be thought to militate 
against it. 

1. In the first place, the Temple is described both by 
Josephus 1 and the Middoth as being a square, and 
therefore rectangular. But the only angle of the Haram 
which is a right angle is the south-western 2 , and, if so, 
at that corner only could the Temple have stood. 
Fergusson remarks that, " in all the temples of Palmyra, 
Baalbec, Athens, &c, of about this age, the temenoi 
[meaning, I presume, temene], or inclosures, are, without 
exception, exactly rectangular." 3 But further, if we 
measure 600 feet eastward from the south-west corner 
we come to the Triple gate, leading into the substruc- 
tions ; and here again the angle formed by the south 
wall of the Haram and the wall running north from 
the Triple gate, being, as we contend, the eastern wall 
of the Temple, is also a right angle. 

2. Another feature of the Temple is that noticed a 
little before, viz. that a screen raised upon the western 
wall of the inner Temple excluded the view of the altar 
from the Palace of Agrippa; and if we identify the 
south-west corner of the Haram with the site of the 

1 Bell. vi. 5, 4. 

2 Fergusson, 6. But see Rob. iii. 164; Barclay, 484. 

3 Fergusson, 6. 



236 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



Temple this would be the case, for, as the Palace of 1 
Agrippa was certainly seated on the edge of the High 
Town, it would, on this supposition, be in the same 
direct line east and west with the western wall of the 
Temple and the altar. 1 

3. The account of Josephus is that the Temple, 600 
feet square, was formed by Solomon by scarping the 
rock in the exterior, and then filling up the hollows 
round the walls with the debris obtained by levelling 
the summit 2 ; and just such is the sqriare of 600 feet at 
the south-western corner of the Haram. If we measure 
600 feet from the south-west corner along the southern 
wall, we come to a wall running off north, partly scarped 
and partly built of masonry, being the old eastern wall 
of the Temple. 3 And again, if we measure 600 feet 
from the south-west corner along the western wall, we 
then trace a distinct line of demarcation, a wall or 
scarpment running due east across the Haram 4 , being 
the northern boundary of the Temple. And again, 
this wall or scarpment entirely ceases at the distance 
of just 600 feet from the western wall, showing that 
the Temple square extended no further in that direc- 
tion. 5 It is also remarkable that at the distance of 
600 feet from the south-western corner the western 
wall of the Haram changes its direction and diverges 
slightly to the west 6 ; and this is an additional proof 
that the Temple did not reach beyond the 600 feet, 
for it cannot be supposed that the wall of the Temple 
was otherwise than one undeviating fine. 

1 See ante, p. 234. 

2 See Ant. viii. 3, 9 ; xv. 11, 3. Bell. v. 5, 1. 

3 Barclay, 506. 4 Fergusson, 16. 

5 Bibl. Diet., art. Jems. 1021, 

6 This appears from Catherwood's Survey. Fergusson's Notes 
on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, p. 18. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



237 



That this square of 600 feet at the south-west corner 
of the Haram is all solid, with the exception of cisterns 
and subterranean passages, cannot be doubted 1 ; for at 
the south-west corner is the fragment of the vast bridge, 
which could only have rested against a solid embank- 
ment. And again, half-way along the south side of 
this square is a passage leading off northward from 
the double gate (of which we shall say more pre- 
sently), and on the left of this passage an attempt has 
at some time or other been made, but in vain, to pene- 
trate the solid mass 2 ; and on the right of the same pas- 
sage the space between the double gateway and the 
eastern termination of the 600 feet is also solid, as 
the keepers of the Haram affirm. 3 At present, as the 
spectator contemplates the southern part of the Haram 
extending 932 feet east and west, it displays a uniform 
surface, and he forgets that after measuring off 600 
feet from the western end, all to the east consists 
merely of a few feet of earth resting upon no solid 
foundation, but ill supported by under-ground columns. 
If this slight superstructure were removed, we should 
then see an embankment of 600 feet abutting east upon 
the ravine running down to the Valley of Cedron. 

4. Josephus assigns to the Temple a bridge conduct- 
ing from it to the upper city ; and not only so, but tells 
us that the bridge led from the south-west corner of the 
Temple. 4 We walk to the south-west corner of the 
Haram, and there we find the remains of the bridge, 
the pier or foot of an immense arch measuring 51 feet 
along the wall north and south, and consisting of vast 

1 Barclay, 511. Bartlett's Jerus. Eevis. 160. 

2 Barclay, 511. 

3 Barclay, 511. Bartlett's Jerus. Eevis. 160. 

4 Ant. xiv. 4, 2. Bell. i. 7, 2 ; ii. 16, 3; vi. 6, 2; vi. 8, 1. 



238 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



stones, one of them 20^ feet long, and another 24^ feet. 
The chord of the arc which is left measures 12 feet 6 
inches, the sine 11 feet 6 inches, and the versed sine 3 
feet 10 inches. 1 The distance of the bridge from the 
foot of the High Town is about 350 feet, and the span 
of the arch, if perfect, would be 40 feet. 2 If the bridge 
was continued up to the High Town itself, there must 
have been a succession of several arches, say five or six ; 
but it is not plain from Josephus how far the bridge 
reached, as in one place he speaks of it as connecting 
the Temple with the Xyst, which was at the foot of 
the High Town 3 , and at another as connecting the 
Temple with the High Town itself. 4 It suffices for 
our present purpose to show that here we have the 
bridge to which Josephus refers, and, consequently, 
that here must have stood the south-western corner of 
the Temple. 

5. Another argument derived from the bridge in 
connection with the royal cloister is an architectural 
one, and first suggested by Mr. Fergusson. It is this : 
The cloister at the south consisted of a nave 45 feet 
wide, with two aisles, each 30 feet wide, making toge- 
ther 105 feet. The centre of the cloister, therefore, 
would be 52^ feet from each side. To this we must 
add the thickness of the wall; and as Josephus gives the 
breadth of the inner Temple wall at 8 cubits, or 12 
feet 5 , we may assume the outer wall to have been 
of the same dimensions ; and then the 12 feet added 

1 See view of the remains of the bridge in Traill's Josephus, 
i. 225, 105; Bartlett's Jems. 135. 

2 Bobinson, i. 287 ; iii. 221. Barclay, 102. 

3 /ecu yi(pvpa rw £votw> to lepov Gvvr\TtT£V. — Bell. ii. 16, 3. 

4 yefvpa ovvairTOVGa r<5 lepa) Ti]v avio 7r6\tv.-— Bell. VI. 6, 2. 

5 ovTa oKTCLTrrj'xyy to evpos. • — Bell. vi. 6, 1, 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 239 

to the 521 f e et would make 64^ feet as the distance 
of the centre of the royal cloister from the south- 
west corner. Let us next see what is the distance of 
the centre of the bridge from the same point. From the 
corner to the bridge is 39 feet, and the bridge extends 
along the wall 51 feet, so that the centre of the bridge 
would be just 64^ feet from the south-west corner. 
Thus the centre of the bridge and the centre of the 
cloister coincide to a nicety. Further, the bridge was 
in all 51 feet wide ; and, if we allow 3 feet on each 
side for the parapets, the remaining 45 feet, the road- 
way in the middle, would exactly answer to the central 
nave of the cloister, which was just 45 feet wide. Can 
these correspondences have been purely accidental \ Is 
it not evident that the bridge was constructed for the 
cloister, or the cloister for the bridge, and that the 
bridge and central nave together formed the grand 
approach to the Temple ? 

6. But now that we are speaking of the royal clois- 
ter, there is still another very powerful argument to be 
drawn from it in confirmation of our view. We have 
already observed that the columns of the southern 
cloister stood in four rows, and were 162 in number ; 
and leaving out the two columns which, as the central 
nave was 45 feet wide, were required for carrying the 
western wall, with an intercolumniation of 15 feet, 
over the bridge, each row consisted of 40 pillars. Now, 
if the Temple extended along the southern side for 
600 feet, the intercolumniations or rather the epi- 
styles, measured from the centre of one column to the 
centre of the next, would be 15 feet, which, as the pil- 
lars were about 5 feet in diameter, and 37 feet high 1 , 



1 Ant. xv. 11, 5. 



240 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



would be just the usual and ordinary intercolumnia- 
tion adopted in the ancient temples. Fergusson, speak- 
ing architecturally of the intercolumniation, observes, 
" Were I restoring this stoa [cloister] without knowing 
what number of columns it contained, I certainly 
would adopt something between 14 and 16 feet, as the 
limit each way." 1 

7. Again, the Temple, according to Josephus, con- 
tained gates in the southern wall at or about the middle. 2 
Not a gate (TroArjv), but gates (TroXas), i. e. a double 
doorway. The Middoth confirms this, and assigns 
to the gates the name of Huldah. Assuming 600 
feet along the southern side of the Haram from the 
west to be the southern wall of the Temple, we find 
just such a gate towards the middle, i. e. 365 feet 
from the west end, and 235 from the eastern end. 
The reason why the gateway was not exactly in the 
middle, was that the passage led up to one of the 
gates of the inner Temple, which on the south had 
four gates. The architect had to choose of the two 
middle ones either the eastern or the western, and he 
naturally chose the eastern, as nearest to the most 
frequented part of the Temple. 3 This double gateway 
is of ancient masonry, and running from it is a vaulted 
vestibule 42 feet in width and 52 in length, in the cen- 
tre of which is a monolithic column, 6 feet 6 inches in 
diameter and 21 feet high, crowned with a foliated 
capital of great beauty, and thought to be of the age 
of Herod. 4 If so it no doubt supported one of the 

1 Fergusson, p. 9. 

2 to de reraprov avrov hetiottov, to irpoq /iE(Tr]^piar, dx £ 
ttvXclq /caret fxiaov. — Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

3 Fergusson, p. 14. 

4 Fergusson, p. H. See sketch of the pillar in Fergusson, p. 15. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



241 



columns of the royal cloister. Now mark the position 
of this column. It stands 42 feet from the outer wall ; 
but we have seen that the outer wall of the Temple 
was 12 feet broad, and that the aisle which stood next 
it was 30 feet wide, making together the exact mea- 
surement of 42 feet ! How can this be the result of 
accident ? 

At the middle of the northern end of this vestibule 
is an oval pillar, 6 feet 8 inches by 5 feet 4 inches, and 
from this point run off two passages, divided through- 
out by either piers or pillars. 1 The left-hand pas- 
sage is the only one now open. It rises from the oval 
pillar by nine steps, which occupy a space of about 
19 feet in length; then is horizontal for 124 feet; 
then ascends by a gentle inclined plane for 25^ feet ; 
then is level for 38 feet, and then terminates by a 
flight of steps leading up to the Haram. The whole 
length is said to be 259 feet. 2 The entire work- 
manship of these vaulted passages is characteristically 
Jewish, with the exception of some trifling Turkish ad- 
ditions. The vestibule, indeed, has been considerably 
Eomanized ; and the entablature on the exterior is also 
referable to Eoman taste. 3 Bat the bevelling of the 
stones in the vestibule is still apparent, notwithstanding 
the attempt of subsequent architects to bring the walls, 
by chipping and chiselling, to an even surface. 4 Can 
it then be doubted that this passage is the Huldah gate, 

1 See view of the double gateway in Traill's Josephus, i. xvii. 
and xxii. ; of the vestibule, ibid. xvii. xli. ; of the subterranean pas- 
sage generally, ibid. 96 ; and of the plan and elevation of it, ibid, 
xxiv. See also views in Barclay, 488, 510. 

2 Barclay, p. 511. There appears to be some error in the details 
or in the total. 

3 Barclay, 511. 4 Traill's Josephus, xviii. 

ft 



242 



SITE OP THE TEMPLE, 



and that it terminated at or near one of the gates of 
the inner Temple ? As Josephus describes the inner 
Temple in general terms as standing in the middle of 
the outer one, and having four gates on the south, and 
as the outer Temple was 600 feet every way, and the 
Huldah gate is 365 feet from the western corner, it 
probably conducted to the most easterly of the two 
middle gates of the inner Temple. 

8. The gates of the Temple furnish a still further 
argument. Josephus states that on the west side of 
the outer Temple were four gates, one leading over the 
bridge and therefore the most southern ; two other 
gates leading clown to the suburb 1 ; and another de- 
scending by steps into the valley, and then up again to 
the inner Lower Town. As the roadway from the 
High Town led over the bridge to the southern cloister, 
we may conclude that the approach on the north from 
the inner Low Town led to the northern cloister : a 
confirmation of which is, that while Simon built a tower 
over the Bridge gate, at the south-western corner of 
the Temple, he erected another at the north-western 
corner, the object of which must have been to com- 
mand the entrance there into the Temple. The two 
intervening suburb gates would, therefore, probably 
stand at regular intervals, in the space between the 
southern cloister and the northern cloister. The south 
wall was 12 feet thick, and the southern cloister 105 
feet wide, making together 117 feet; and the north 
wall was also 12 feet thick, and the northern cloister 
30 feet wide, making together 42 feet ; and deducting 
these two spaces of 117 feet and 42 feet (=159 feet) 
from 600 feet, which was the length of the western 

at c)£ hvo elg to 7rpoaar£tov.-— Ant. xv. 11, 5. 



SITE OP THE TEMPLE. 



243 



wall, we have 441 feet for the interval between the 
north and sonth cloisters. If the two snbnrb gates 
were equidistant, we have to divide the 441 feet by 
3=147 feet, the distances of each gate from the other 
and from the cloisters. The southern of the two 
suburb gates would, therefore, stand at the distance of 
117 feet + 147 feet, or 264 feet from the south-western 
corner ; and accordingly an ancient doorway has been 
discovered 1 on the west side, about 270 feet (called by 
mistake yards) from the south-west corner, i. e. within 
6 feet of the spot where the centre of it would stand 
by the above calculation. 2 As we are not told what 
part of the gate is at the distance of 270 feet, the 
approximation may possibly be brought still nearer. 
20 feet 2 inches of the lintel in length and 6 feet 9 
inches in breadth are alone now visible, the rest being 
occluded by the house of Abu Seud EfFendi on the 
south side, and by the accumulation of soil. It 
formerly led up to the Temple by a flight of steps, and 
the portal of it in the interior of the Haram still re- 
mains, and is 14 or 15 feet wide. This gate, as it was 
next Shallecheth, the Bridge gate, was probably Parbar, 
which is mentioned in connection with Shallecheth. 
" At Parbar westward, four [Levites were] at the cause- 
way [the bridge], and two at Parbar." 3 The gates at 
the causeway or royal cloister were double, and to- 
gether 45 feet wide, and required four guards ; while 
the next gate, being single, demanded only two. 
Parbar in Hebrew signifies " outer place," or is a cor- 

1 See view of it from the exterior, Barclay, 489 ; and from the 
interior, ibid. 490. 

2 Barclay, 489. And see Williams, ii. 309 ; Stewart, Tent and 

Khan, 273. 

3 1 Chron. xxvi. 18. 



244 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



ruption of Parvar, " suburb " ; 1 and in either case 
agrees with the description of Josephus, that this gate 
conducted to the suburb. The other suburb gate has 
not been discovered, but, as it probably stood about 
147 feet to the north of Parbar, it should be looked for 
at the distance of about 411 feet from the south-west 
corner, or a little to the south of the Mekhimeh. How- 
ever, the approach to this gate was very hkely by an 
external flight of steps which has been broken away, 
and no trace may now be recoverable, unless the cavities 
and projections in the stones at the Wailing-place were 
connected with some flight of steps. 2 

9. The royal cistern for supplying the Temple with 
water was also lately discovered by Barclay. 3 It lies 
about 400 feet from the west wall of the Haram, and 
400 feet from the south wall, and this would place it 
(as we have located the Temple) under the court of the 
women. A rude subterranean passage leads down to 
it by a flight of steps. The reservoir, supported by 
ill-shaped massive pieces of rock, which might have 
been formerly covered with metal, measures in circum- 
ference 736 feet, and is 42 feet deep, and capable of 
holding nearly two millions of gallons. It has eight 
apertures above for draw-wells, but only one of them 
still remains open. The aqueduct is said to enter it on 
the west, but the conduit has not been observed. 4 

Under El Aksa, also to the south-west of the royal 
cistern, is another cistern 47 feet deep, which is 
thought by Barclay to be supplied with water from 
the royal cistern, though the communication was not 
noticed. 5 



1 Liglxtfoot. 

3 See view of it, Barclay, 526. 

4 Barclay, 525. 



2 See Barclay, 491. 
5 Barclay, 527. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



245 



Half-way also between the Mosque of Omar and El 
Aksa is a fountain, and in the same line to the south 
in El Aksa is a well ; and this fountain and well, if the 
Temple stood at the south-west corner, would be situate 
at the eastern extreme of the inner Temple, one to the 
north and the other to the south ; and the Middoth 
speaks expressly of a draw-well on at the latter spot. 1 

These cisterns, fountain, and well, all within the 
square of 600 feet at the south-west corner of the 
Haram, seem to indicate strongly where the Temple 

formerly stood. 

10. Of all the evidences, the one perhaps entitled to 
the greatest respect is the testimony of the Jews them- 
selves, by the immemorial custom of assembling at what 
is called the Wailing-place, to bemoan the loss of their 
beloved sanctuary. 2 The tradition carries value with it, 
as one accompanied with a ceremony, and that not 
attractive from outward gaud, or as ministering to plea- 
sure or amusement, but it is the outpouring of a broken 
spirit, and one which could only have originated in the 
destruction of their Temple, and must have been coeval 
with that event, and thence transmitted from generation 
to generation. Where then is the Wailing-place found ? 
Where is the spot which the Jews have ever believed 
to be the nearest approach to the site once occupied 
by the Holy of Holies, and the high altar ? In general 
terms the Wailing-place is described as to the north of 
the Mougrebin gate, and to the south of the Mekhimeh. 3 
The most precise description of it is in Barclay, who 
states it to extend along 40 yards, or 120 feet, of the 

x Fergusson, 28, 72. 

2 See views of the Wailing-place, Traill's Josephus, ii. 225; Bart- 
lett's Jerus.- 140; Barclay, 493. 

s Stewart, Tent and Khan, 272. Rob. i. 237. Bartlett, 140. 

r 3 



246 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



western wall of the Haram, commencing at 100 yards, 
or 300 feet, from the south-west corner. Thus it would 
reach from a point 300 feet from the corner to 420 
feet from the corner. Where then, supposing the 
Temple to have occupied the south-west corner of the 
Haram, would be the Sanctuary ? The inner Temple 
stood about the middle of the outer Temple, or rather at 
nearly equal distances from the northern and southern 
cloisters. The southern cloister being with the outer 
wall 117 feet, and the northern cloister with the wall 
42 feet, and the whole west side being 600 feet, the 
space between the cloisters would be 441 feet, so that the 
centre of the inner Temple would be 117 feet + 2201 
feet, i. e. 337^ feet from the south-west corner. It 
would therefore be within the Wailing-place ; and the 
invariable practice of the Jews is in strict conformity 
with the general description, and even the particular 
measurements, of Josephus. This, again, can scarcely 
be set down as an accidental coincidence. 

11. There are some other circumstances which, 
though nothing in themselves, may yet be thought in 
the gross to carry weight. Thus the colonnades, by 
our plan, would reach from the south wall to a line 
drawn across the Haram, a little below the Golden gate, 
and it is in this space that fragments of marble columns 
have been dug up within the Haram \ and are found 
built into the eastern wall. 2 Again, the Temple ex- 
tended along the south wall as far as the Triple gate, 
and here is observed a stone with beautiful moulding 
on one edge, and which Barclay 3 thinks must have 
formed part of the decoration round the top of the old 
Temple wall. Again, two statues were erected by the 

1 Barclay, 486. 2 Williams, ii, 366. 3 Page 491. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



247 



Konians on the site of the Temple, opposite the Wailing- 
place. 1 And it has been surmised, and is probably 
the fact, that the two statues were not both of them 
of Hadrian, but one of Hadrian and the other of Anto- 
ninus Pius ; and the stone containing the inscription at 
the foot of the statues, which seem to have stood to- 
gether, has been built into the south wall of the Haram, 
at the gate Huldah, and contains the names of both 
emperors : " Tito Hadriano Antonino Aug. Pio P. P. 
Pontif. Augur. D. D. P. P." 2 

We now proceed to notice a few points which may 
be urged as objections to our theory of the site of the 
Temple, but are capable of easy explanation : — 

1. It may be said that Josephus expressly states 
the southern cloister to have run from valley to val- 
ley 3 , and therefore that it must have extended to 
the eastern wall of the Haram. But the question is, 
Where was the Valley of Jehoshaphat considered to 
begin, and where did the embankment of Solomon 
end ? If we take away the substructions at the .south- 
east corner of the Haram, we then find the solid 
embankment extending "from the south-west corner 
for 600 feet along the southern wall, and then a slope 
down to the eastern wall of the Haram. By saying 
that the southern cloister ran from valley to valley, 
Josephus means only that it ran from the Tyropoeon 

1 " Stmt ibi et statuse duee Hadriani. Est et non longe de statuis 
lapis pertusus, ad quern veniunt Judaei singulis annis et unguent 
eum, et lamentant se cum gemitu et vestimenta sua scindunt, et sic 
recedunt." — Itin. Hiero. 

2 Barclay, 492. 

s T ^v fiaaCkiKnv aroav Tpniknv Kara firjKog liiovaav airo tt}q euxxq 
Qapayyog em rrjy Wfuof, oh yap l\v UrelvaL TzpoaaiTepu) Zvvarov. 
— Ant. xv. 11, 5. 

r 4 



248 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



Valley to the slope which, beginning at 600 feet from 
the south-west corner, descends into the Valley of 
Jehoshaphat. We have seen also, in a former page, 
that the intermural space between the eastern wall of 
the Temple and the eastern wall of the city is constantly 
referred to by Josephus as the " so-called Cedron ra- 
vine;" and Josephus, in saying that the Temple extended 
from the western to the eastern ravine, may have meant 
by the latter the " so-called Cedron ravine." 

2. It has been urged that at the north-west corner 
of the Haram is a rock from 20 to 30 feet high \ which 
is scarped on the exterior, and has been levelled by 
art in the interior, and therefore that Antonia must 
have stood on this point. But this circumstance, far 
from being an objection, is a strong confirmation of our 
hypothesis. The castle at the north-west corner of the 
Haram was not Antonia but Acra, the famous Mace- 
donian keep. The Temple, the Temple Mount or An- 
tonia, and Acra, are all noticed by the Maccabees as 
distinct, and standing near to each other : " Moreover 
the Mount of the temple, that was by the Acra, he 
[Simon] made stronger than it was ; and there he dwelt, 
himself with his company." 2 As Simon could not 
dwell in the Temple itself, the Temple Mount can only 
mean the Baris or Antonia on the north of the Temple ; 
and as the Acra was originally on a higher mount still, 
this could only be on the north of Antonia, in which 
direction the ridge of rock ascends. But the site of 
Acra was razed by Simon, and we see the result in the 
scarpment by way of outer wall on the north, and the 
levelled surface of the rock within the inclosure. 

3. But, if the Temple occupied a square of 600 feet 



1 Barclay, 244, 486, 



2 1 Mace. xiii. 52. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



249 



at the south-west corner, how, it may be asked, do you 
explain the substructions under the Hararn at the south- 
east corner, for thus they would stand there supporting 
nothing ? 

" Care colonne che state qua ? 
Non sappiarno in verita." 

In the first place, opinions differ much as to the date 
of these substructions. Williams thinks they were 
erected by Justinian, and Fergusson maintains the 
same 1 ; Eobinson regards them as ancient 2 ; and Barclay 
considers them decidedly Jewish. 3 If erected after the 
time of Titus they can form no objection to our hypo- 
thesis, as we can then strip them off and show the 
scarped rock and massive wall of the Temple at the 
west end of the substructions. However, I think they 
must be regarded as much more ancient. The walls 
are of the same colossal bevelled stones as the Temple, 
and the pillars also are bevelled, and altogether have a 
Jewish aspect quite at variance with a later age. 4 There 
is also an evident connection between these vaults and 
the Temple. At the entrance of the double gateway at 
the south, which is unquestionably the old Temple gate, 
Huldah, there is a closed door on the right ; and in the 
substructions there is, near the entrance by the Triple 
gateway on the left, a corresponding door, so that, no 
doubt, a subterranean passage once existed between Hul- 
dah and the vaults ; and as this part of theHaram is a solid 
mass, it is very unlikely that such an under-ground com- 
munication should have been excavated subsequently to 
the original construction. Again, the Triple gateway 5 

1 Notes on Holy Sepulchre, 31. 2 Rob. i. 305. 

3 Barclay, 503. 

4 See sketch by Barclay, 504. 

5 See a sketch of it in Bartlett's Jems. Revis. 149. 



250 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



at the western end of the vaults leads up to the 
north by a corresponding triple roadway, supported by 
columns and separated from the rest of the vaults by a 
wall ; and the most westerly of the three roads extends 
upward for 247 feet, and, what is remarkable, by an easy 
inclination, as if for an ascent to the Temple above. 1 One 
use, then, of the substructions is obvious. The sacrifices 
at the altar, particularly during the festivals, required 
an incredible number of oxen, sheep, and other cattle ; 
and how were these to be kept in readiness out of sight 
and sheltered, especially in winter, from the inclemency 
of the weather? Stalls to an immense extent must 
have been provided somewhere, and the natural sup- 
position is that they were here situate. The columns, 
though insufficient to carry the massive cloister of the 
Temple, were admirably adapted for sustaining, as they 
still do, a roof, with a few feet of earth. It is not 
unlikely that they were erected by Solomon himself, 
partly as stables for the Temple victims, and partly for 
his own stud of so many thousand horses. During the 
Crusades they were used as stables, and from time 
immemorial have passed by the name of Solomon's 
stables. 2 

Lastly. It may be urged, that if the Temple was at 
the south-west corner, and did not stretch across to the 
Valley of Cedron, and particularly if the substructions 
were along the eastern side, how could Josephus say 
that if a spectator stood at the eastern end of the 
southern cloister, and looked down into the depth 
below, his eyes would swim at the sight of the immea- 
surable gulf? 3 It will be remembered, that the old 
wall of the city is distinctly said to have run along the 



1 Barclay, 508. 



2 Barclay, 367. 



3 Ant. xv. 11, 5. 



SITE OF THE TEMPLE. 



251 



eastern brow of Ophel, and to have joined the eastern 
cloister of the Temple, i. e. at the southern end of it. 
Now, a spectator placed at the point which Josephus 
describes would stand just at the angle formed by the 
city wall from the south, and the wall of the Temple 
plateau running from west to east ; and posted thus at 
the eastern end of the southern cloister, and turning his 
eyes downward to the south-east, would have an unin- 
terrupted view of the whole valley below, which hap- 
pens here to have the greatest depth. No wonder, 
therefore, that if the extra height of the central nave of 
the southern cloister were added to the precipice below, 
the prospect should be as fearful as the historian depicts 
it. At no other point along the walls of the Temple 
could a spectator obtain such a view ; and this, ap- 
parently, is the reason why Josephus, to heighten the 
effect, chooses to place the spectator, in imagination, at 
this particular spot. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

THE SECOND AND THIRD WALLS. 

As to the course of the second and third walls, the author's 
mind has fluctuated much between the hypothesis adopted 
in the text and the view that the second wall ran by the 
Damascus gate, while the third wall lay more to the north, 
about a quarter of the way between the Damascus gate and 
the Tombs of the Kings. The substance of the following 
argument was written when the latter theory was in favour, 
and is here given that the reader, in so difficult a subject, may 
exercise his own judgement : — 

As to the Second "Wall, our hypothesis is that it started from 
the north wall of the High Town, at a point due south of the 
south-west corner of the Pool of Hezekiah (that is, just to 
the east of the three great towers, the bulwark of Herod's 
palace, viz. Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne), and that 
sweeping round the north of the pool it pursued an easterly 
course between the Hospital of St. John and the Holy Sepul- 
chre, and then struck off northward to a point 300 feet west 
of the Damascus gate, and then along the line of the present 
wall eastward to the summit of Bezetha, and thence in a 
curve southward to the foot of Antonia. 

The course of the wall along the west of the Pool of 
Hezekiah, and then along the north of the pool, is evi- 
denced by the remains of the ancient wall, eleven or twelve 
feet thick, discovered a few years since along the north of 
the pool. 1 

1 See ante, p. 48. 



254 



APPENDIX I. 



How far the wall continued from the pool eastward, before it 
deflected northward, it is impossible to say with any certainty, 
until further investigation has been made ; but a considerable 
space must have existed between the western limb of the 
third wall and the western limb of the second wall, to allow 
room for the encampments that were formed there, first by 
Cestius, and after him by Titus. 

The turn of the second wall to the north was probably 
soon after passing the Hospital of St. John, and at all events 
the second wall appears to have struck the line of the present 
wall at a point 300 feet to the west of the Damascus gate. 
At least, the ancient remains traceable in the wall, from the 
Damascus gate westward, entirely cease at that spot and 
thence to the north-west corner of the present city are no 
foundations of the old wall, which we can only account for 
by supposing that the wall, at 300 feet from the Damascus 
gate, changed its direction, and turned southward. 

The second wall, if drawn from this point 300 feet 
west of the Damascus gate southward, in a line parallel 
to Damascus Street, would of course exclude the Holy 
Sepulchre, and this harmonises with other facts. When 
the Roman world became Christian under Constantine, the 
Emperor lost no time in investing the hitherto despised 
Grolgotha with due honour, and erected a magnificent church 
over the spot, known from that day to the present as 
the Holy Sepulchre. Now at that period the ancient 
walls of the city were no doubt traceable, and indeed the 
north wall of the High Town is expressly mentioned by a 
contemporary \ and as the Christians of that day must have 
known as well as those of the present that our Lord was 
crucified without the second wall, we have thus the testimony 
of the first half of the fourth century that the second wall 
ran to the east of the Holy Sepulchre. Not only so, but 
from the accounts both of the Bordeaux Pilgrim who wrote 
A.d. 333, and of Eusebius his contemporary, we should infer 
that although Constantine first, in a.d. 329, founded a church 

1 The Bordeaux Pilgrim, in going down from Pseudo-Sion along Damascus 
Street to the Nablous (Neapolis), or Damascus, gate, uses the expression : 
"Inde [from Pseudo-Sion] ut eas forts murum, de Sione euntibus ad portam 
Neapolitanam :" where by the wall he evidently means the old north wall of 
the High Town. 



THE SECOND WALL. 



255 



over the Sepulchre, the sites of the Crucifixion and of the 
Sepulchre were not then first discovered, but had been known 
long before, and indeed (as must have been the case) had 
never been lost sight of. 

Alono- the west side of the bazaars and of Damascus Street, 
which leads from the northern end of the bazaar to the Da- 
mascus gate, are found certain ancient remains, which are 
appealed to by Williams as evidences that the line of the se- 
cond wall took this direction ; but, while we accept the theory 
that the second wall ran somewhere between Damascus Street 
and the Holy Sepulchre, we attach no importance to the 
ruins referred to. They are as follows, and let the reader judge 
for himself. In the first place, on the west of the bazaar, 
about half-way along them, are seen some foundation stones 
which may have belonged to some old portal, but according 
to the best opinions they are not of a Jewish character, but 
are attributable to the great palace of the Knights of St. 
John. 1 Again, on the west of Damascus Street, further to the 
north, and due east of the Holy Sepulchre, are three columns 
of grey granite, and a fourth at the entrance of the middle 
bazaar. But these belonged unquestionably to the propylsea 
erected by Constantine on the east of the Holy Sepulchre. 2 
At the northern end of the western bazaar are also two 
limestone columns, but to what building they appertained is 
uncertain. 3 It is difficult, however, to imagine that these 
columns could have had any connection with a city wall, and 
they are rather referable to some public edifice. At the 
corner formed by Damascus Street and the street running 
along the north of the Holy Sepulchre is a single limestone 
column, said to mark the site of a gate once known as 
Porta Judiciaria. Whether a gate ever stood there at all is 
open to doubt; and, if there did, we are left to conjecture 
what was the nature of it, whether a gate to a palace or an 
arch over a street. The more ancient statement is that the 
Porta Judiciaria stood on the east side of Damascus Street. 

There is, however, on the west of Damascus Street one 
remnant of antiquity, viz. the cistern of Helena, half-way 
between the Holy Sepulchre and Damascus Street, not, how- 



1 Rob. iii. 167. 



2 Rob. iii. 168. 



3 Rob. iii. 168. 



256 



APPENDIX I. 



ever, in the direct line between the two, but more to the 
north. This immense reservoir, lying north and south and 
measuring 60 feet in length and 30 in breadth l , is hewn out 
of the solid rock ; and it is suggested by Schultz, not without 
some show of reason, that it was excavated for supplying 
water to the troops in garrison in the adjoining tower and 
along the walls. On the other hand, it may, as the name 
would seem to imply, have been excavated by Helena, 
or rather by her son Constantine, for the supply of water 
to the adjoining Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 

That the second wall reached up to a point 300 feet west of 
the Damascus gate, and then turned eastward, we may further 
conclude from the notice of an ancient writer, that at the 
Damascus gate, called by him the Grate of Ephraim "the 
wall which inclosed our Lord's Sepulchre met the old wall? 1 
The only wall which could possibly include the Holy Se- 
pulchre would be one running round the west and north 
sides of it ; and, if so, the old wall which it met in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Damascus gate must have been the second 
wall, which there came up from the south. 

From the point 300 feet from the Damascus gate, where 
the second wall bent eastward, to the Damascus gate, we 
have no difficulty. All along may be traced the foundations 
of an ancient Jewish wall. Not only so, but at about 100 
feet west of the Damascus gate are found distinct traces of 
an ancient Jewish tower, of which the guard chamber is very 
distinguishable. The stones are large and hewn smooth and 
bevelled, and "at the bottom of the half archway, on the 
extreme right, appears the under side of a flight of steps cut 
off at the third step, and belonging as if to the ancient and 
not to the modern portion of the building." 3 " Of these 
stones," says Eobinson, " one measured 7 J feet long, by 3 J 
feet high, and another 6 \ feet long, by a like height. Some 
of them are much disintegrated and decayed, but they all 
seem to be lying in their original places as if they had never 
been disturbed from the spot where they were first fitted to 

1 Barclay, 539. Tobl. Dritte Wand. 219. 

2 " Porta Effraim [Damascus gate] ... In eo conveniebat murus qui 
includit Sepulchrum Domini cum muro veteri." — Tobl. Top. 100, note 1. 

3 Traill's Josephus, xlviii. 



THE SECOND WALL. 



257 



each other." 1 Tobler, in his third Tour, gives a ground plan 
of them, and adds that the tower in which this ancient ma- 
sonry occurs stood north-west and south-east, i. e. in a wall 
having the same direction as the present wall from the 
Damascus gate to this point. 2 

We come now to the Damascus gate itself, where we meet 
with another undisputed remnant of an ancient J ewish wall. 
As you approach the gate from the south or city side, there 
stands on the right-hand on the east " a square dark room, 
adjacent to the wall, the sides of which are entirely com- 
posed of stones having precisely the character of those 
still seen at the corners of the Temple area, large, bevelled, 
with the whole surface hewn smooth. Connected with this 
room, on its west side, is a winding staircase leading to the 
top of the wall, the sides of which are of the same cha- 
racter." 3 The foundations are in the same line as the 
existing wall, and indicate, therefore, in this part the line of 
the old second wall. 

From the Damascus gate to Fort Antonia the course of the 
second wall is somewhat problematical. In the first place, 
within the city, and to the east of the gate, are the foundations 
of a wall of large bevelled stones, running off to the south- 
east 4 ; and these may be thought to indicate the direction of 
the second wall. It would seem, however, more probable that, 
after passing the Damascus gate, the wall, before turning south- 
ward, ran up to the crown of Bezetha ; for not only would 
this be the natural line of defence in a military point of view, 
but thus far the wall is accompanied by a deep trench until 
the height of the rock itself is such as to render any outer 
fosse unnecessary. 

There is also a further reason for this view. It is generally 
admitted that the hill under which is the grotto of Jeremiah 
formed originally one continuous ridge with the crown of 
Bezetha, and that the level plain now intervening has been pro- 
duced artificially by the removal of the stone for building pur- 
poses. Why, then, did the surface-quarrying cease just at the 
foot of the present wall ? Was it that no further materials 
were required ? So far is this from being the case, that under 



1 Eob. i. 313. 
3 Eob. i. 313. 



2 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 340. 
4 Tobl. Top. i. 58. 



258 



APPENDIX I, 



the wall which crowns the height of Bezetha is the entrance into 
a vast subterranean quarry, called the Cotton Cave, extending 
southward 644 feet, and of considerable, though not of equal, 
breadth. There can be no doubt that this was the source 
from which all the stone was drawn for the erection of the 
Temple and its outworks, and the walls of the city. Indeed 
there is no other quarry of any size in the neighbourhood of 
Jerusalem. Why, then, it may be asked, was not the stone 
still worked at the surface, the most obvious and convenient 
course, instead of being excavated at the expense of great 
additional labour from the bowels of the earth ? The answer 
is, that as the ancient, or second, wall pursued, in this part, 
the line of the present wall, the surface excavations were 
carried on up to the foot of the rampart, and that as the 
houses and streets within the city could not be disturbed, the 
quarrying from that point was prosecuted by mining under 
ground. 

Eobinson supposes the second wall to have ascended the 
hill of Bezetha, and then to have taken a south-easterly 
direction to Antonia; and observes that at the crown of 
Bezetha " the ridge drops off on the east by a perpendicular 
ledge of rock eight or ten feet high (which would answer the 
purpose of a fosse to the wall where it turned southward), and 
then slopes down gradually eastward. If, now, we may sup- 
pose an ancient corner tower, or bastion, on the wall at this 
high point, then the wall might readily be carried from 
it in a south-easterly direction along the crest of the ridge 
of Bezetha, quite to the north-west corner of the Haram, or 
near it, leaving el Mulawieh just on the west. Such a course 
would bring the steep and short western slope [of the hill of 
Bezetha] within the city, while the great body of the hill 
itself, the more level, extended, habitable part, would remain 
on the outside. It is likewise worthy of remark, that, such a 
course of the wall being supposed, the present arch, Ecce 
Homo, the piers of which we have seen to be probably ancient, 
would fall directly upon its line." 1 

The remark of Eobinson, that the main part of Bezetha 
would fall without the city, was probably intended to meet 

1 Eob. iii. 190, 191. 



THE SECOND WALL. 



259 



the objection, that Josephus states the fourth hill, or that of 
Bezetha, to have been inclosed for the first time by the third 
wall, built by Agrippa. In further answer to the same diffi- 
culty, we may observe that the historian speaks of this fourth 
hill as lying at the north of the Temple inclosure, opposite 
Antonia, and divided from the latter by a deep fosse, which 
can only be what is now called Bethesda 1 ; and the second 
wall, as we have drawn it, would, as Eobinson explains, have 
been the boundary line of this tract on the west, but would 
not have comprised it. This line of the second wall, parallel 
to the line of the third wall, which ran along the brink of the 
Valley of Jehoshaphat, will serve also to explain the account 
in the mediaeval writers, that from the quarter at the north 
of the Temple was no exit, except by passing between the two 
walls to Herod's gate. 

The second wall, taking this course, would not only run in 
the line of the arch called Ecce Homo, but, if it continued to 
the west of Pilate's house and thence turned eastward, would 
also embrace the old Jewish tower mentioned by Barclay and 
Tobler in this part, and would at the same time be accurately 
described by Josephus as " going up " to Antonia. 

The second wall, as we have drawn it, after making an elbow 
from the first wall to the Grate of Ephraim, sweeps round in a 
curve to the point of junction with Antonia; and this re- 
markably corresponds to the slight notices of it both in Holy 
Writ and in Josephus. Thus it is said that David, by whom the 
second wall was constructed, " built the city round about, even 
from Millo [the Haram] roundabout." 2 And again, " David 
built round about from Millo and inward." 3 And Josephus 
in similar terms describes the second wall as " encircling," 4 
that is, running in a curvilinear^ line round, the northern 
quarter of the ancient city. 

The objection with some to this line of the wall is, that it 
encloses but a very small space ; but to this there is a ready 
answer, viz. that Josephus, in his brief account of the second 
wall, states that it embraced " only " 5 the quarter at the 
north of the High Town. 6 We only fear that the second wall, 



1 Bell. -v. 4, 2. 
3 2 Sam. v. 9. 
5 i*6vov. 



2 1 Chron. xi. 8. 
4 Bell. v. 4, 2. 
6 Bell. v. 4, 2. 



260 



APPENDIX I. 



drawn as we have suggested, would comprise too large an area ; 
for while Josephus ascribes to the first wall 60 towers, and to 
the third wall 90 towers, he gives to the second 14 towers 
only. However, the second wall not improbably was really 
weak in respect of its towers ; and this may be the reason 
why Uzziah erected additional towers " at the corner gate and 
at the turning of the wall." 1 This would also explain why 
the Jews, on the approach of Cestius, at once abandoned the 
second wall, and retired into the Temple and behind the first 
wall. 2 After all, however, the statement that the second wall 
had 14 towers only may be open to suspicion, for in the very 
same paragraph Josephus attributes 90 towers, at the distance 
from each other of 300 feet, to the third wall 3 , which would 
make the third wall 45 stades long, and therefore exceeding 
the circuit of the whole city, which was only 33 stades. And 
if so palpable a blunder was committed by Josephus, or has 
crept into the text, as to the third wall, we may venture the 
surmise that there is some mistake in respect of the second 
wall : in short, that instead of 14 towers, the historian wrote 
40 towers, which would be just about the proportion that the 
length of the wall itself would lead us to expect. 

We are confirmed in this view by a very singular coinci- 
dence. The first wall had 60 towers, and if the second had 
40, the two together would make 100. It is not unlikely that 
all the towers were numbered : " Walk about Sion, and go 
round about her, and tell the towers thereof; " 4 and if so, at 
what point would the numbers begin, and which way would 
they run ? The Tower of Hananeel was the great landmark 
in Jerusalem, and would presumably be the first tower. The 
successive labours of Nehemiah are described as running from 
Hananeel northward, and the gates of the city were counted 
in the same direction, for the Fish gate, to the north of Hana- 
neel, is called the first gate, and the old gate which stood next 
to it is called the second. We should conclude, therefore, 
that the 100 towers were numbered from Hananeel north- 
ward ; and, if so, the tower which stood next to Hananeel on 
the east would be the last reckoned, and therefore the 100th ; 



1 2 Chron. xxvi. 9. 
3 Eell, v. 4, 2. 



2 Bell. ii. 19, 4, 
4 Ps. adrift 12. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



261 



and the name of this tower is/ accordingly, Meeah, or the 
100th I 1 

Next, as to the course of the Third Wall. From the north- 
east corner of the Haram the line of the third wall can be 
traced without difficulty to the north-east corner of the pre- 
sent city, and thence westward along the present wall to the 
neighbourhood of Herod's gate. Between this point and the 
crown of Bezetha are traces of ancient towers, but they do 
not necessarily belong to a Jewish wall, for they do not exhibit 
the bevelling of Jewish masonry, and may be referred to the 

wall of Adrian. . . 

Let us, then, for the present desist from tracing the third 
wall further in this direction, and, beginning de novo, endea- 
vour to follow it from its western commencement at the tower 
of Hippicus. 

It is agreed on all hands, that from Hippicus, now the 
castle of David, at the Jaffa gate, the third wall ran to the 
north-west corner of the present city. At this north-west 
angle stands Kalah el Jalud, or the (Kant's castle, which 
cannot itself be at all referred to the time of the Herods ; 
but " at the south-west corner of the mass, near the ground, 
are three courses of large bevelled stones, roughhewn, and 
passing into the mass diagonally in such a way as to show that 
they lay here before the present tower and bastion were built. 

Krafft confidently appeals to the diagonal position of the 
bevelled stones as a manifest proof that the original tower was 
octagonal, and, therefore, Psephinus, which is described as 
octao-onal 3 ; and if this were so, the course of the third wall 
woufd be determined at once, for Psephinus stood at the north- 
west corner of the city ; and therefore, if Kalah el Jalud be 
Psephinus, the third wall here turned to the east. But the 
circumstance that the bevelled stones enter the more modern 
edifice diagonally proves only that the standing tower differs 
in configuration from its predecessor, but not that the ancient 
tower was octagonal or of any other particular shape. Let us 
see, then, whether the wall can, in fact, be traced by existing 
vestiges in a northward direction beyond the Giant's castle. 



1 nX^H Neh. iii. 1. 

2 KoV. i. 318 ; iii. 193. Tobl. Top. i. 66. 

s 3 



3 Krafft, 37, 



262 



APPENDIX I. 



Our best witness as usual is Eobinson : " On the east of 
the path [from the north-west corner to the Tombs of the 
Kings], about half-way between these tombs and the north- 
west of the city, we noticed," he says, " foundations which be- 
longed very distinctly to the third wall, consisting of large 
hewn blocks of stone, of a character corresponding to other 
works of those ages. On the west of the path, and running 
up the hill in a line with the above, were other similar 
foundations, and still further up were stones of the like kind 
apparently displaced. By following the general direction of 
these, and of several scarped rocks which had apparently been 
the foundations of towers or the like, we succeeded in trac- 
ing the wall in zig-zags in a westerly course for much of 
the way to the top of the high ground. Here are evident 
substructions of towers or other fortifications extending 
some distance, and from them to the north-west corner of 
the city the foundation of the ancient wall is very distinctly 
visible along the hard surface of the ground." 1 

Next in authority to Eobinson stands Tobler, who, after 
having repeatedly examined the ground with the greatest care, 
agrees with Robinson that the third wall ran beyond the pre- 
sent city in a north-west direction 2 ; and, when he visited Jeru- 
salem for the third time, he tells us that he then felt more 
convinced than ever, from an inspection of the ground, that 
such was the course of the third wall. 3 

Psephinus, according to this view, would stand at or 
near the crown of the hill : and it need not excite surprise 
that no gigantic bevelled stones, the foundations of Pse- 
phinus, have been discovered there ; for Psephinus in Greek 
signifies the Rubble Tower, and no doubt it was so called 
because, while Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne, which 
were over against it, were constructed of vast masses, regu- 
larly hewn and bevelled, Psephinus, as erected in haste, was 
formed of materials most ready at hand, that is, of stones 
not chosen or fitted together, but answering rather to the 
description of rubble. 

From this culminating point of the hill ruins at irregular 
intervals and in a zigzag direction may be traced, toward 



1 Kob. i. 314. 

3 Tobl. Dritte Wand. 341. 



2 Tobl. Top. i. 124. 



THE THIRD WALL. 



263 



the north-east, to a spot from which a line drawn to the 
dome of the church of the Holy Sepulchre would range 
south 23 east l , and here the track of the wall is lost. How- 
ever as it could not have ended thus we have no resource 
but to take the account of Josephus for our guide onward. 
According to him, the third wall, after turning at the tower 
Psephinus, ran over against the Tombs of Queen Helena. 
These, as Eobinson has proved to demonstration, are now 
called the Tombs of the Kings; and the wall, therefore, 
if it ran across the great north road, would be accurately 
described as passing over against the Tombs of Helena, which 
look down upon the present Damascus gate, and were still 
nearer to the more advanced gate of the third wall. 

The next step in the account of Josephus is that the third 
wall ran across the Royal caverns' 2 ; and if the wall followed 
the course of the ruins at the north-west corner to the 
summit of the hill, and then struck off eastward, it would, 
after crossing the great north road, pass over Zahara, the 
mount of tombs, under which is the grotto of Jeremiah, 
a subterranean excavation fifty feet in depth, with the en- 
trance towards the south and the roof supported by two 
large pillars. 3 Opposite the grotto, on the south of the 
courtyard by which it is approached, are other caverns oi 
smaller dimensions. 

From the Royal caverns, the wall, continuing its course 
eastward, ran with a slight inclination to the south into the 
line of the present wall, a little to the east of Herod's gate, 
and thence to the north-east corner, where was the corner 
tower, and thence southward to the old ambit of the Temple 
platform. 

There are some isolated passages in Josephus, which will 
further elucidate the course of the third wall, and which 
we proceed to consider. . 

1 It is stated by him that the whole circuit of the city 
was 33 stades. 4 This has been a stumbling-block m the 
way of other theories, but is in exact accordance with the 
foregoing view. If we measure the ambit of the walls as 

> TobL Top. i. 118. 

* dta airi)Xal(ov &a<ri\iKobv wKwdpcvop. — hell. V. 0, A. 

^ -i a nr, Jj6.ll. V. 1p «> 

3 Barclay, 468. 

s 4 



264 



APPENDIX I. 



we have drawn them, the result is 19,800 feet, or just 33 
stades. 

2. It is mentioned that the Tombs of Helena were at the 
distance of three stades from the city. 1 The identity of the 
Tombs of Helena with the Tombs of the Kings is indisputable, 
and the space between the tombs and the existing north 
wall is four stades ; but drawing the wall as we have done, 
from the ruins at the summit of the hill at the north-west 
corner, across the hill of Zahara, to the north-east corner of 
the city, the distance of the Tombs of the Kings from the 
wall would be just three stades. This striking coincidence 
may be thought perhaps accidental. But no ! it so tallies 
with another fact that any mistake is out of the question. 

3. The position of Scopus, or Prospect hill, in the north, 
is represented to be seven stades from the city. 2 Now, the 
distance of Scopus from the present north wall is eight 
stades. 3 But if Agrippa's wall ran from the summit of the 
hill at the north-west of the city, and then eastward across 
the hill of Zahara, the distance of Scopus from the wall 
would be just seven stades. 

Before parting from the walls it will be proper to notice 
the Walls of Adrian, erected a.d. 136. It is generally ad- 
mitted, and can scarcely be doubted, that Adrian's walls ran 
in the line of those which are now standing. Let us see, 
then, how Adrian dealt with the ancient walls. Jerusalem 
when besieged by Titus had attained its maximum pro- 
portions. But when Jerusalem, under the name of iElia, 
rose again from its ashes, it was once more in its infancy. 
Had the old outer walls been reconstructed in the same lines, 
the armour without, so disproportionate to the shrunken body 
within, would have been simply ridiculous. It stands to 
reason, therefore, that Adrian's city would be circumscribed 
by a wall of much less extent. This evidently was the 
course pursued, for on Pseudo-Sion the old first wall had 
run round the hill on the south along the brink of the 
Valley of Hinnom ; but the new wall, after covering little 
more than the northern half of the hill, deflected across it 

1 rpia (TTaha rrjs rcau 'lepoarokvixirwu tt6\€ws aTrexovaas. — Ant. XX. 4, 3. 

2 rrjs ttSAicos aradiovs 'dirra Sie'xw. — Bell. V. 2, 3. 

3 Tobl. Top. it 4. 



THE WALLS OF ADKIAIS T . 



265 



on the south, in the line of the present wall, and thus ex- 
cluded a very considerable portion of the ancient city. The 
same plan was adopted in the north. The new wall was 
drawn very much further south, and was made up of a 
portion of .the third wall, from the Jaffa gate as far as the 
Giant's castle, on the west ; and a portion of the third wall, 
from the north-east corner of the Haram as far as the 
north-east corner of the present city, on the east; and these 
two portions were connected by a northern wall, which in its 
way ran in the line of the northern portion of the old 
second wall ; that is to say, the northern limb of the second 
wall had reached from a point 300 feet west of the Damascus 
gate to the summit of Bezetha on the east, and this now 
became part of the northern line of Adrian's wall. And, to 
complete the defence on the north, a wall was carried from 
the point 300 feet west of the Damascus gate, in a westerly 
direction, until it reached the third wall coming up from the 
Jaffa gate ; and again, from the summit of Bezetha eastward, 
until it reached the third wall coming up from the Haram. 
From the point 300 feet west of the Damascus gate to the 
north-west corner of the present city, and from the crown 
of Bezetha hill to nearly the north-east corner of the city, 
are no foundations of bevelled masonry indicating a J ewish 
origin, but there are ruins of ancient towers, which are pro- 
bably to be ascribed to this wall of Adrian. 



266 



APPENDIX II. 



No. IL 

THE BORDEAUX PILGRIM. 

The peregrination of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux about Jeru- 
salem is very brief; and, as it will elucidate the topography 
of some of the principal localities, we shall run through his 
notes, with some accompanying remarks. 

"There are," he says, "at Jerusalem two great pools at the 
side of the Temple, that is, one on the right hand and the 
other on the left, which Solomon made." 1 One of these 
pools is, of course, Bethesda ; and as he places it by the side 
of the Temple, he evidently uses the latter word in the same 
sense as Josephus, viz. the Temple platform. As the pilgrim 
makes his way from east to west, by the right and left hand 
must be intended the north and south ; and thus Bethesda is 
the pool on the north, and that on the south must be the 
pool the ruins of which were traceable some years since near 
the south-east corner of the Temple platform, but for which, 
perhaps, we should look in vain at the present day. 2 

" But more within the city are two twin pools, having five 
porches, which are called Bethsaida. Here the sick of many 
years were wont to be healed. But these pools have water 
which, when agitated, is of a kind of red colour." 3 Before 
we comment upon this passage, it will be as well to cite the 
language of Eusebius, the contemporary of the Pilgrim, upon 
the same subject. In his Onomasticon he speaks of Bethesda 
as " a pool at Jerusalem, which is the Piscina Probatica, and 
had formerly five porches, and now is pointed out at the twin 
pools there, of which one is filled by the rains of the year, but 
the other exhibits its water tinged in an extraordinary manner 
with red, retaining a trace, they say, of the victims that were 

1 Itin. Hieros. 

2 Tobl. Top. ii. 78. 

3 "Interms vero civitatis sunt piscinae gemellares quinque portieus habentes, 
quse appellantur Betsaida. Ibi segri multorum annorum sanabantur, aquam 
autem habent ese piscinoe in niodum coeeini turbatam." — It in. Hieros. 



BORDEAUX PILGRIM. 



267 



formerly cleansed in it." 1 From this legend of the water 
taking its colour from the blood of the victims, it is evident 
that the twin pools were immediately contiguous to the 
Temple inclosure ; and from the words of the Itinerary, that 
they lay " more within the city " than the two which he had 
described before, they must be looked for on the west or city 
side ; and as the pool to the south of the Temple inclosure 
was, in fact, without the walls, the Pilgrim must mean that 
the twin pools were to the west of the northern pool. I was 
disposed to think, at one time, that the twin pools might be 
found along the west side of the Temple platform ; for at the 
present day, under the western wall of the Haram, is a pool 
called the Mekhimeh, commencing at the causeway and reach- 
ing 84 feet northward, and which is 42 feet wide; and still more 
to the north, near the Hammam es Shefa, is another quite 
large pool. 2 But there are two objections to this theory ; for, 
in the first place, the Mekhimeh pool is roofed in, and, in fact, 
is a vast cistern ; and the Pilgrim usually makes a distinction 
between pools, which he calls Piscinw, and cisterns, which he 
calls Excepturia. And again, it is not easy to see tuhy 
the Mekhimeh and the pool above it should be called the 
twin pools ; for though they lie near to each other, they are 
not side by side, and apparently have no connection. But 
if we turn to the west of the great pool at the north of the 
Haram, we come upon the true import of the terms employed 
by the Pilgrim and by Eusebius ; for at the south-west corner 
of Bethesda are two arched vaults side by side, running out 
westward, one about 12 feet wide and the other about 19 feet 
wide 3 , and both reaching from 130 to 140 feet in length, and 
both stuccoed, so that evidently at one time they were reser- 
voirs for water. 4 These, then, are the twin pools, and answer 
to the Pilgrim's description of being " more within the city " 
than the great pool. Both of them are now dry, but the 
northern one is the more filled with rubbish 5 ; and this again 
agrees with the account of Eusebius, that one of the pools was 

1 Euseb. Onomast., artic. B^afla ; and see Jerome's translation. 
* Barclay, 538. 

8 See views of Bethesda, Traill's Josephus, ii. 172; Bartlett's Jems. Rev. 
112. 

4 Rob. i. 330. Barclay, 321. 5 Tobl. Denkbl. 62. 



268 



APPENDIX II. 



dry except when filled by the winter rains. The other, or 
southern pool, still, in Eusebius's time, held water, but the 
foulness of it may have given occasion to the legend that it 
retained the red tinge of the blood of the victims. 

It is worthy of remark that the Jews call Bethesda the 
Pool of the Blood-offering 1 , from their tradition that the vic- 
tims were once cleansed in it. Indeed the word Bethesda 
signifies, in Hebrew, the House of Washing. 2 Eusebius, it 
will be observed, identifies Bethesda with the Piscina Pro- 
batica, and the great pool at the north of the Haram has 
from that time to the present been uniformly known as the 
Piscina Probatica. 3 

Assuming these parallel pools to be the twin pools referred 
to by the Pilgrim and Eusebius, we have their testimony that 
here was Bethesda. But how, then, it will be said, are the 
five porches to be accounted for ? It must be remembered 
that in the course of so many centuries great alterations must 
have taken place in this part ; and, though we can only con- 
jecture what these changes have been, we can offer a probable 
conjecture. Josephus mentions that the Temple platform was 
screened from Bezetha by a deep fosse 4 , which would lead us 
to infer that it extended from the east at least as far westward 
as the rock on which once stood the Macedonian Acra. This 
was a long reach, and we may suppose that anciently, as now, 
a thoroughfare was formed across the fosse, and this would 
naturally be by arches or porches. At present there are only 
two arches on the south of the western end of the Bethesda, 
but if the whole breadth was spanned by arches, then, as the 
fosse is 130 feet wide, five arches would be about the number 
required. It was under these arches, then, which would be very 
spacious, that the " great multitude " spoken of by St. John 
were waiting for the moving of the waters. 5 Bethesda^ or the 
House of Washing, leads to the inference that the pool was not 
merely an expanse of water, but that some parts at least were 
substantial buildings for the reception of persons frequenting 
it, and the five porticoes running across the pool would 
answer to this requirement. The term employed by John is 
KoXvfi/BtfOpa, or the swimming-pool, which argues that the pool 



1 Tobl. Denk. 54. 2 iODK JV3- 

3 Tobl. Denk. 53. 4 Bell. v. 4, 2, 5 John v. 3, 



BORDEAUX PILGRIM. 



269 



was one of great extent, and Bethesda is one of the largest 
pools in or about Jerusalem. If this pool at the north of the 
Temple platform be not Bethesda, no other can be pointed out 
which could at all answer the description. 

" There also is the crypt where Solomon was wont to torture 
the demons." 1 This crypt may be the cave under the Sukrah, 
which has always been accompanied with some fearful super- 
stition. The orifice in the floor of the chamber is, according 
to the Mahometans, the mouth of the infernal regions. At 
the present day, however, the tradition of Solomon's torture 
of the demons attaches itself to another locality in the vast 
substructions at the south-east corner of the Haram. 2 

" There is the corner of the most lofty tower where the 
Lord went up, and he who tempted him said, &c. ; and the 
Lord said unto him, < Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God but him only shalt thou serve.' There also is the great 
corner-stone, of which it is said, < The stone which the builders 
refused ' " &c. 3 The Pilgrim here describes the south-east 
ano-le of the Haram, the vast stones of which, from that time 
to the present, have called forth the astonishment of every 

beholder. . 

« Also, at the head of the corner, and under the pinnacle ot 
the tower itself, are numerous chambers where Solomon had 
his palace. There also is the chamber in which he sat and 
wrote the Wisdom ; but the chamber itself is covered with a 
single stone." 4 Here the Pilgrim refers, undoubtedly, to the 
extensive subterranean vaults at the south-east corner of the 
Haram, then called the Palace, and now the Stables of Solo 
mon. The chamber in which Solomon is said to have mitten 
the Book of Wisdom is the one at the south-east point, now 
called the Cradle of Jesus. The entrance from above is by a 
flight of steps which leads down to " a subterranean chamber, 

1 "Est ibi et cripta ubi Solomon dsemones torquebat." — Bin. Hieros. 

2 Barclay, 509. . • ., . . 

3 "Ibi est angulns turris excelsissimse ubi Dommus aseendit et dixit ei is 
qui tentabat eum . . . et ait ei Domiims : Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum 
seel Uli soli servies. Ibi est lapis angularis magnus de quo dictum est ; Lapi- 
dem quern reprobaverunt sedificantes." —Bin. Hieros. 

* « Item ad caput anguli et sub pinna turris ipsius sunt cubicula plurima 
ubi Solomon palatium habebat. Ibi etiam constat cubiculus in quo^sedit et 
sapientiam descripsit. Ipse vero cubiculus uno lapide est tectus. —Mm. 
Hieros. 



270 



APPENDIX II. 



in the middle of which, laid on the floor, is a sculptured niche 
in the form of a sarcophagus, with a canopy above." 1 

" There also are great cisterns of water under ground, and 
pools constructed with great labour." 2 The cisterns here 
spoken of are, one of them the large cistern under the Mosque 
el Aksa 3 ; and the other the Boyal cistern, recently discovered 
at the bottom of a flight of 44 steps at the north-east of the 
Mosque el Aksa, supported by rude columns of native rock 
and masonry, 736 feet in circuit and 42 feet in depth, and 
capable of containing 2,000,000 gallons. 4 The pools which 
the Pilgrim here contrasts with the cistern were probably 
above ground, and one of them, therefore, may be identified 
with that over the Royal cistern, and which, in the time of 
the Crusades, was " a basin and a dome supported by columns, 
and furnished water for the besieged and their cattle." 5 It is 
now a marble basin bordered with olive ? orange, and cypress 
trees. 6 

' 4 And in the fane itself, on the site of the Temple which 
Solomon built, on the marble before the altar, you would say 
that the blood of Zachariah had been just spilt. Nay, traces 
of the nails of the soldiers who slew him are to be seen over 
the whole area, so that you would think it was impressed on 
wax. There also are the two statues of Hadrian." 7 The 
Temple here spoken of must be that erected by Adrian to 
Jupiter, and expressly said by Dion to have been built on the 
site of the Jewish structure. 8 Of the two statues of Hadrian, 
one, which was equestrian, is said by Jerome to have stood 
in the very Holy of Holies." & 

1 Bob. i. 302. Barclay, 502. 

2 " Sunt ibi et excepturia magna aquae subterranese et piscinae magno opere 
aedificatae." — It in. Hieros. 

3 Barclay, 527. 

4 Barclay, 526 ; -where a sketch of it may be seen. 

5 Eob. i. 301. « Eob. I 301. 

7 " Et in aede ipsa ubi templum fuit quod Solomon aedificavit, in marmore 
ante aram sanguinem Zachariae ibi dicas hodie fusum. Etiam parent vestigia 
clavorum militum qui eum ' occiderunt in totam aream, ut putes in cera fixa 
esse. Sunt ibi et statuae duae Hadriani." — Itin. Hieros. 

8 koL is rbi> rod vaov tov deov T6irov } vahv rca Ail crepou- avreyeipavTos. — Dion. 
lxix. 12. 

9 "De Hadriani equestri statua, quae in ipso Sancto Sanctorum loco usque in 
praesentem diem stetit," (Hieron. Comm. in Matt. xxi. 15.) "Ubi quondam 



BORDEAUX PILGRIM. 



271 



« And not far from the statues is the Beating- stone 1 , to 
which the Jews come every year and anoint it, and make 
lamentations with groans, and rend their garments, and so 
retire." 2 This touching custom of the Jews, which has con- 
tinued from that time to the present, must necessarily refer 
to the Wailing-place in the western wall of the Haram, toward 
the south. The stones there are so worn away by the 
constant friction of the wailing multitudes, that the whole 
head may be buried in the cavities. 3 We have seen that the 
Jewish Temple occupied a square of 600 feet at the south- 
west corner of the Haram; and, if so, the Temple of Jupiter, 
erected in its place, would stand on the same spot : and as 
one, if not both, of the statues was in the Temple, the Beating- 
stone, if identical with the Wailing-place, would, as described, 
be near the statues. It must not escape notice that the Jews 
came to wail " every year," for by a decree of Adrian the 
Jews were prohibited, on pain of death, to approach their 
city. 4 But in the days of Constantine this severity was re- 
laxed ; and at last they were allowed, as here mentioned inci- 
dentally by the Pilgrim, to make a mournful procession to 
Jerusalem once a year. 5 ?? 

"There also is the house of Hezekiah, king of Judah." 6 Of 
this we know nothing. The rest of the Pilgrim's account has 
been inserted in the text. 

erat Templum et religio Dei, ibi Hadriani statua et Jems idolum collocatum." 
(Hieron Comm. in Esaiam, il. 8.) — Cited by Bobinson, i. 296. 

» Or the stone that was beaten by the frantic grief of the mourners; as we say 
the Blowing-stone, for that which is blown into. 

2 "Est et non longe de statuis Lapis pertusus ad quern veniunt Judaei singu- 
lis annis, et unguent eum, et lamentant se cum gemitu et vestimenta sua 
scindunt, et sic recedunt." — Bin. Hieros. 

3 TraiU's Josephus, xlvi. 

4 Eob. i. 369. 5 Bob - L 37L 
e "Est ibi et domus Ezekise regis Judse." — Itin. Hier. 



1 ~~ LJ 1 ! ! r , 



J- MM, M I L ' i ■' 



\ 




I 



V 



I 



Abraham, 2. 
Acra, 1, 82, 91, 101, 105. 
Adonijah, 9. 
Agrippa's palace, 234. 
Ahaz, 37. 

Alexander Bala, 89. 

Jannseus, 94. 

Alm ond pool, 49. 
Amaziah, 34. 
Am on, 54. 
Ananias, 46. 
Anastasis, 145. 
Antigonus, 93, 97, 98. 
Antiochus Epiphanes, 82. 

Eupator, 86. 

Sidetes, 90. 

Antonia, 92, 198, 203, 210. 
Architecture, Assyrian, 29. 
Archive, 106* 
Aristobulus, 93, 94. 
Armoury, 74. 
Assyrians, 49. 
Athaliah, 24. 

Bab es Sinsleh, 117. 
Baris, 92, 94. 
Basilica, 135, 138. 
BethmiUo, 26. 
Bethso, 60, 113. 
Bethsura, 86. 
Bevelling, 21. 
Bezetha, 102, 109. 
Bordeaux Pilgrim, 133, 266. 
Bridge of Temple, 233, 237. 
Broad wall, 66. 
Brook, 39. - 

Caiaphas, house of, 134. 
Calvary, 130. 



273 



DEX. 



Causeway, 233. 
Cestius, 122, 210. 
City of David, 83, 85. 
Cloisters of Temple, 216, 218. 
Constantine, 135, 138. 
Corner gate, 34, 35, 52, 65. 
Cotton cavern, 191. 
Council house, 117. 
Crucifixion, place of, 127. 
Cyrus, 57. 

David takes Jerusalem, 3. 
■, house of, 5. 

, sepulchre of, 72. 

Demetrius Nicator, 90. 

Soter, 88. 

Dragon pool, 38. 
Dung gate, 60, 113. 

Enrogel, 9. 

Ephraim, gate of, 34, 67. 
Eusebius, 138. 
Ezra, 57. 

Fergusson's theory of Holy Sepulchre, 

146. 
First wall, 113. 
Florus, 128. 
Fountain, 245. 

, stopping of, 39. 

Fountain gate, 60. 
Fuller's field, 38, 124. 

Gardens, 131, 164. 
Gareb, 35. 

Gates of Jerusalem, 36, note 2. 
Benjamin, gate of, 63. 
Damascus gate, 170. 
Dung gate, 60, 113. 



274 



INDEX. 



Grates of Jerusalem — continued. 

Essene gate, 60. 

First gate, 53, 65. 

Fish gate, 52, 53, 65. 

Fountain gate, 60. 

Gennath, 121. 

High gate, 33. 

Horse gate, 25, 76. 

Middle gate, 65. 

Miphkad, 77. 

Nablous, 135. 

Old gate, 65. 

Sheep gate, 62, 79. 

Two walls, gate betwixt the, 70. 

Valley gate, 38, 68. 
G-ates of the Temple, 195, 197, 242, 

Huldah, 240. 

Water gate, 75. 
Giant's castle, 173. 
Gihon, what it was, 11. 

> , upper water-course of, 40. 

Valley wall, 52. 

Goath, 35. 

Going up of corner, 77. 
Golden gate, 151. 
Golgotha, 130. 

Hadrian, statue of, 247. 
Ham mam es Shefa, 41. 
Hananeel, 34. 
Helena, palace of, 106. 

, tombs of, 186. 

Herod, capture of Jerusalem by, 97, 
211. 

Hezekiah, 39, 120. 
High gate, 33. 

town, 1, 104. 

Hill, first or upper, 100. 

, second, 101. 

, third, 102. 

, fourth, 102. 

Hippicus, 110, 112, note 3. 

Hippodrome, 75. 

Holy Sepulchre, 127, 153. 

, church of the, 140, 163. 

Horse gate, 25. 

House of the mighty, 72. 

of Caiaphas, 134. 

Huldah gate, 240. 
Hyrcanus I., 93. 
II., 94. 

Jebus, 1. 



Jehoiada, 24. 
Jerusalem, etymon of, 2. 

, New, 138. 

Jeshua, 57. 

Jews' wailing-place, 245. 
Joash, 24. 

John, monument of, 132. 
Jonathan Maccabeus, 88. 
Jotham, 37. 
Judas Maccabeus, 84. 

Kalah el Jalud, 173. 
Xedron, 59, 206. 

Lebanon, house of, 28. 
Low town, 1, 105. 

Manasseh, 51. 
Marianne tower, 111. 
Martyrium, 138. 
Millo, 16, 49. 
Moriah, 2, 101. 
Mosque of Omar, 146. 

Nebuchadnezzar, 55. 
Nehemiah, walls of, 57- 

Ophel, or Ophla, 76, 115. 

Palace of Adiabene, 106, 219. 

of Agrippa, 96, 234. 

Asmonean, 96, 234. 

of Helena, 106. 

of Monobazus, 107. 

of Solomon, 22. 

Phasaelus, 110. 
Pompey, 95. 
Pool, Almond, 49. 

between two walls, 47. 

of Hezekiah, 45, 48. 

, King's, 47, 60. 

, Lower, 45. 

, Old, 41. 

"that was made," 73. 

, Solomon's, 13, 114. 

— — , Upper, 38. 
Population of Jerusalem, 193. 
Porta Judiciaria, 119. 

Neapolitana, 135. 

Potter's gate, 69. 
Prsetorium, 128. 
Prison, 62, 75. 



INDEX. 



275 



Propylsea, 144. 
Psephinus, 173, 179. 
Rabshakeh, 50. 
Rotunda, 145. 
Royal caverns, 190. 

cistern, 244. 

cloister, 238. 

Ruins, 48, 171, 173, 174. 

Sabinus, 208. 

Salem, 1. 

Scaurus, 95. 

Second wall, 118, 253. 

Sennacherib, 49. 

Sepulchre of David, 72, 

, Holy, 127, 133. 

, Jewish, 157. 

Serpent pool, 38. 

Siloam, 71, 106. 

Simon the Maccabee, 83, 91. 

Sion, 1, 6, 87, 89, 100. 

Solomon, King, 10. 

, palace of, 22. 

-, pool of, 13, 114. 

. temple of, 14. 

, walls of, 32. 

Stairs of the city of David, 72. 
Struthion, 212. 
Sukrah, 228. 

Temple of Solomon, 14. 
site of, 235. 



Temple, Catherwood's view, 220. 

, Robinson's view, 221. 

, "Williams's view, 226. 

platform, 206. 

Third wall 167, 261. 

Titus, 189, 210. 

Tombs of Helena, 186. 

Towers of walls, 183. 

" Turning of the wall," 36, 74. 

Tyropoeon, 102, 

Uzziah, 36, 72. 

Valley gate, 36, 59. 
of Tyropceon, 102. 

Wailing-place, 245. 
Walls of city, 99, 110. 

Broad wall, 48, 67- 

of Xehemiah, 57. 

First wall, 113. 

Second, 47, 118, 253. 

Third, 167, 261. 

Wall round Tyropceon, 69. 

"Without," of Hezekiah, 47- 
Water, want of, at Jerusalem, 93. 

Xyst, 116. 

Zedekiah, 55. 
Zerubbabel, 57. 



THE END. 



LONDON 

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